Challenge Accepted
by MeridianGrimm
Summary: When Kid finds a mysterious note taped to the back of his latest heist target, decoding it sets in motion a series of meetings during which he trades dares and challenges with one Hakuba Saguru.
1. The First Challenge

MG: Hey everyone! I'm super excited about this one because Challenge Accepted is a multi-chapter story that I'm writing in collaboration with Shara Raizel. Shara is here on as well as on AO3. She's going to be the one posting Challenge Accepted on AO3, in case you're looking for CA there too. Say hi, Shara.

SR: Hello! We've both been so excited about writing this fic together and couldn't wait to post if for you guys.

MG: We both want to give a great big "thank you!" to Crimson Amarone for inviting us both to the Poirot Cafe Forum. This story wouldn't be here without that lovely invitation.

SR: We met on the forum and found that we had similar shipping interests and having read a lot of MG's fics, I was excited about working together with her on this project.

MG: Likewise, Shara! We really hope you all have as much fun reading this as we had writing it :)

We do not own Magic Kaito or Detective Conan. Those belong to the wonderful and brilliant Gosho Aoyama.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

Kaito hit the release button for the hang glider's harness and stayed on his stomach for a minute, letting the cape settle over top of him as he lay on the roof. Nice. It wasn't raining under here. He would have cancelled the heist and spared Nakamori and the task force the misery of a chase in the storm, but the Crocodile's Revenge was only going to be in Japan for another few days. Kaito's research on the emerald had uncovered some interesting folklore. Not enough that he expected snipers to show up – and they hadn't – but enough to make it onto Kaito's list. He'd check the gem against the moon tomorrow night when the heavy clouds were gone.

It was starting to dig into his chest, though. Kaito rolled over onto his back and reached into the front of his jacket, shifting to avoid the hang glider's cross bar in the process. He pulled out the crown and let it rest on his ribcage so that the green jewel set into the front was visible. There were smaller fake jewels on either side of the center gem, exquisite etching designs on the silver crown itself and – was that a piece of paper sticking up?

Intrigued, Kaito turned the crown around and found a folded up sheet of computer paper taped to the back of the heist target. _Is it catalogue information from the museum? A photo of the previous owner? An explicative-laden letter from Nakamori-keibu saying that he'll get me next time? _Kaito grinned at that, imagining the inspector sitting down to write that indignant message and then throwing out a dozen copies because he'd pressed the pen down so hard it went through the paper. Gloves still on, Kaito lifted the tape up from the crown and opened the sheet.

A mixture of printed Romanized letters stared back at him, incomprehensible. Kaito frowned. It couldn't be a mistake. The crown had gotten so much attention that a prank note couldn't have been overlooked. _A code, then?_

A clap of thunder reminded him of where he was. Kaito tucked away the heist target and the note back into his jacket and debated whether to just break into whatever building he had landed on or try to fly among the lightning-streaked clouds. Mmm… The building it was. Kaito disguised himself as a security guard and took the elevator down to the bottom floor. He rode back to Ekoda with a bus full of people coming home from the Kid heist, and he resisted the urge to whip out the note and decipher it even though he was in public.

_Actually, reading it in a public setting might be a better idea,_ Kaito thought. _If there's a tracer in the paper, I really don't want to take it back to the house_. He ended up getting off the bus a dozen stops early and changed into a police officer disguise. Kaito quietly picked the lock on the local library doors and hid the note between pages 13 and 14 of _Hate Him but Love Him, A Novel _in the romance aisle. It was a horribly written book with an even worse premise that had hardly ever been checked out of the Ekoda library since its initial release. It was the safest place Kaito could think of to leave it in public. After a quick trip 'round to Jii-chan's to pick up some equipment, Kaito returned to the library and broke in again. He checked that there was no tracer in the paper with his tools, but decided it wouldn't hurt to be careful and took the message and the book to one of the deserted reading corners, settling into a comfy chair.

The code didn't fit any substitution trick he tried. Then he thought the key was that the letters were in a variety of font sizes, but that resulted in nothing after he grouped those together and couldn't form any real words out of them. Some of the simpler codes he'd learned as a child reading adventure books didn't produce anything coherent either. After two hours, he set the letter on the desk under the lamp, rubbing his eyes. Then he snatched it up again and squinted at the paper as something unusual jumped out. In limited light, all of the characters looked like they were in a uniform black, but under a bright light, there were some slight differences between them. Some of the letters were lighter than others, almost like the printer had been running out of ink. There were varying levels of dark gray, though, more than could be accounted for by a faulty printing device. He grouped them by shade on scrap paper – giving him ten clusters – and started again.

Make subgroups based on font size. Rearrange letters to make English words. Put words in order from lightest to darkest fonts, biggest to smallest letters. Add spaces and punctuation where necessary and get:

_Kaitou Kid_

_You are invited to a private tea party at ten pm this Thursday on top of the Mizushima Engineering building. It is high enough that you can arrive and depart by hang glider if you so choose. I will provide appetizers and tea, but you are welcome to bring your own if you do not trust me. Again, this is a private party, so no police will be present. I hope to see you there._

The invitation was unsigned, but Kaito didn't need a signature to know who'd sent a message coded in English requesting a tea party. Hakuba Saguru. The High School detective had given an especially enthusiastic chase tonight, Kaito remembered. He'd disabled traps, dodged razor cards, and ran like nothing else mattered. Now he was inviting the phantom thief he'd sworn to capture to a private get-together.

The next morning in class, Kaito's mind was still running the same circles it had been repeating the whole night. He didn't need to rearrange any letters to know that "trap" was written all over this. The chance to meet with Hakuba, as Kid, without a heist – well, it certainly appealed to his curiosity, as it was meant to. However, Kaito was not stupid enough to overlook the very obvious possibility that this was just the next ploy in a long line of attempts to catch the Kid. Kaito could very well show up to the Mizushima building and find the place surrounded by police cars and helicopters. Things worked out better when Kaito was the one picking the location. He could plan escape routes and know which ducts connected to which rooms and set up tricks beforehand. Now, however, the building could be monitored, and even in disguises he could be photographed and tracked. There was no jewel to be gained from this, no promise of Pandora. Really, there wasn't any reason Kaito _should_ go.

Some little part about this whole thing niggled at him, though. It was the lack of signature. If Hakuba were writing this under orders from Nakamori, he wouldn't feel the need to omit his name. However, if the note was genuine, then Hakuba was using Kid's own powers of deduction to keep himself anonymous, should anyone else discover and decode the invitation. There was very little chance that Kid wouldn't guess the sender if he deciphered the code, but the detective could easily deny to law enforcement that he'd written it. This faux anonymity, the idea that Hakuba might be hiding this from the other officers, could suggest that the offer was real.

Or was Hakuba just trying to make him think that? _This_ was why he didn't normally hang out with detectives. The possibility of using reverse psychology or reverse-reverse psychology was always there. Hakuba was clever, despite his track record where Kid was concerned. How was he supposed to tell if Hakuba was being serious or not? It could really go either way.

Kaito stole a look over at Hakuba a few desks down. The detective was calm and unruffled, paying attention to the teacher as she explained the homework assignment. _Okay,_ he thought, _let's assume for just a moment that the note is genuine. What does Hakuba want?_ There was something fascinating about such a morally upright individual summoning a thief for tea and dessert. Kaito's sheer, unbridled curiosity was the only reason he hadn't immediately vetoed the whole idea. He couldn't even develop any decent theories about the purpose of their meeting. Maybe… nope, literally nothing was coming to him. And it was driving him mad. Kaito needed so badly to _know_ that he just wanted to drag the detective off to the men's room and pick his brain apart until the blond couldn't use it anymore. Was that weird? It sounded kind of sadistic when put in those terms, which wasn't how he'd meant it at all.

No, but seriously. What did Hakuba want with a thief, besides the obvious? _Well~,_ a persistent voice in his head reminded him for the 30th time, _the only way you'll ever find out is at 10pm on Thursday._ If he skipped the tea party, it was unlikely that he would receive another invitation. And then he'd _never _know. Real or fake, Hakuba wouldn't discuss the invitation with anyone (plausible deniability and all that). Especially not with Kaito unless he confessed to being Kaitou Kid himself –which was NOT happening. The only way Kaito was going know what Hakuba wanted was to actually accept the invitation and go to the half-Brit's tea party.

Finally, Kaito managed a few theories better than the ones that involved aliens and robots. _Maybe Hakuba wants to quiz me about my civilian identity. _Kaito had no problem knocking Hakuba out with sleeping gas if that were the case. _Well, maybe he's planning to confess his undying love for the Kid. _Heh, no. Stuffy detective._ Maybe Hakuba needs help with something and can't go to the police._ Ooh. Kaito knew that feeling all too well. _Shit. What if I don't go and he needs help? He's an annoyance, sure, but I don't want to see him dead._ He didn't hate the detective; just disliked that he was Hakuba's current target._ Guess I have to go, then._

Kaito had known, since the beginning of this self-argument, that he was going to go. It was only a matter of conning his logical side into thinking this was a good idea. After all, kaitou never did what was good for them, and Kaito's inquisitive streak ran miles wide.

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_SAGURU_

When Thursday night finally rolled around, Saguru was a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. He'd been covertly observing Kuroba's actions over the last two days. The prankster magician's usual cheerful masks had been in place, but Saguru had seen the tenseness that sometimes crept into the other teen's shoulders when his guard relaxed. Kuroba had been nervous and had had his eyes on Saguru when he'd thought the detective wasn't looking.

Saguru couldn't help but feel a little smug. Kuroba should have had no reason to be nervous unless he really was Kid and had received the note attached to the most recent heist target. It wasn't definitive proof, but Kuroba certainly hadn't been his usual boisterous and annoying self the day before when he, as "Kid's biggest fan," should have been celebrating Kid's latest victory. It would appear that Saguru had unnerved the thief with his invitation to tea. Heh. But the kaitou needn't fear. Saguru had no intention of going back on his word in the note. Tonight there were clear skies, unlike the night of Kid's heist, and besides the occasional routine patrol car, there wasn't a police presence in the vicinity. It was the perfect weather for Kid to use his hang glider too, and no signs that this could be a trap. Saguru had chosen this particular location because it was as accessible and escapable for Kid and he had prepared things to at least provide some sense that this wasn't going to be a trap.

Saguru cast a critical eye over the set up on the roof. The Mizushima Engineering building was the tallest building in Ekoda's industrial zone and had a rather nice rooftop lounge for its CEOs and executive employees to use on breaks and for casual social gatherings. The faux-grass lawn and potted trees created the illusion of a calm oasis in the sky while overlooking the lights of the neighboring shopping center a few blocks over. The elegant white patio furniture set seemed to glow in the light of the full moon. Saguru had painstakingly set out a well-distributed amount of lanterns to illuminate their meeting place as well as to provide enough shadows so that Kid could at least relax without having to worry about his identity behind the hat and monocle being revealed (even though Saguru was 98.9 percent sure that Kuroba Kaito was in fact the Kaitou Kid). He'd also taken care to provide a number of appetizers as promised, both English and Japanese, making sure that none of the sushi samples had fish in it, knowing of Kuroba's ichthyophobia from Nakamori Aoko. A pot of water was kept on a hot plate well away from anything that would catch fire.

After altering the arrangement of the plates holding biscuits, cookies, and cakes, Saguru took a seat and snapped open his pocket watch.

9:58:56 PM.

It was almost time.

Saguru was tempted to cast his gaze up at the skies, but knew that if Kid thought that this was a trap, the thief would be more cautious than usual. This meeting went against the Kid's usual routine, and was a complete role reversal in many respects. Kid was the one that was supposed to leave behind riddle notices for the police and detectives to solve and face off with them in a battle of wits over a jewel at a location of the thief's choosing. Now the tables had been turned and it was one of Kid's detectives challenging him with a coded note and destination. The irony was not lost on Saguru, but he felt that it was rather poetic in a way. What better way to call out the Kid than with a notice of his own? Saguru's lips twitched minutely as he wondered how long it had taken Kid to figure out the solution to crack his note?

10:03:43 PM.

Kid was choosing to be late. With a put upon sigh, Saguru poured himself a cup of hot water from the pot and selected a packet of Earl Grey tea, letting the pouches' herbs absorb into the warm liquid. When he felt that the tea was well mixed, he took a sip, eyes closing in pleasure and appreciation for the warmth of the brew and the blend of flavors on his palate, even if the hot water burned in his mouth a bit.

When he opened his eyes Kid was lounging in the chair across from him. Saguru wasn't surprised. He knew that Kid had been waiting for an opening. The thief was all about flair and making an entrance and his were either ostentatious to the point of absurdity, or so low profile that no one noticed his presence until he was right in front of the intended target.

"Good evening," Saguru greeted, setting his cup down on its saucer.

"Tantei-san," Kid nodded, his usual coy smile flashing, but showing a lot more teeth than it normally did.

Saguru wordlessly offered Kid the pot of hot water. Kid nodded, ignoring the cup at his place setting and pulled out one of his own from some hidden pocket on his person, but allowed Saguru to pour the water for him. Kid had to have been watching from somewhere and seen that Saguru had used the same pot of water for his own tea, which he'd just drank from so, logically, the water in it couldn't be drugged. Saguru then gestured to the selection of teas, coffees and hot cocoa packets, but was not surprised when Kid brought out his own packet of a particularly rich kind of hot chocolate. Kid was being predictably cautious. Saguru hoped that the thief would be less inclined to be so suspicious at (hopefully) future meetings.

They sat in silence for a few minutes each sipping at their respective drinks.

"Well, Tantei-san?" Kid demanded softly. "Why am I here?"

"You don't have to be," Saguru shrugged. "Your coming and accepting my invitation was entirely up to you."

"Let me rephrase then," Kid scoffed. "Why did you invite me here?"

Saguru aimed a level stare at his rival, doing his best to hide his amusement. "Curiosity."

"Curiosity?" Kid repeated. "About what?"

"About you. About whether or not you were as capable of solving puzzles as you are at devising them. About whether or not you would come. If you'd stay or not. If you'd be inclined to repeat the experience and have future meetings of a similar nature."

Kid was silent, his sharp violet-blue eyes piercing as they studied Saguru intently. Saguru took another calm sip of his drink, as if he met with internationally wanted criminals for tea all the time.

"…What do you mean when you say other meetings of a similar nature? I still haven't discovered the 'nature' of _this_ particular meeting, Tantei-san."

"I'm sure you are well aware, Kid, of how hard it is to find someone that challenges you on an intellectual level. Before I started chasing you, you were practically running circles around the police at heists, even more so nowadays." Kid inclined his head, following Saguru so far.

"When I came to Japan it was with the intension and the hope of meeting someone that would challenge my abilities as a detective. Of finding an intellectual equal as well as a rival. You are both. Since arriving in Japan, I've only met two, possibly three, others that are in the same league as myself – and I don't say that to be boastful. It is simply a fact that I have a high IQ and have been certifiably tested and been confirmed as a genius. You are obviously one of those two persons, and high school detective Hattori Heiji of Osaka is the other, but his hot-bloodedness and tendency to react before taking in the situation as a whole rather… undermines his intelligence sometimes. The possible third intellectual equal is Edogawa Conan and his exponentially growing potential as a detective. It is almost frightening how sharp that boy is for a seven year-old."

"…Still don't know why I'm here, Tantei-san. Why not meet with Hattori or Tantei-kun if you're looking for someone to converse with on an intellectual level?"

"While I'm sure our conversations would be quite engaging as fellow Holmes enthusiasts, Edogawa is still just a child. And besides the obvious distance between Tokyo and Osaka, Hattori-kun and I… have a tendency to get under each other's skin, to put things politely. Ironically, I find you to be more bearable, pranks aside that is. And you challenge me in ways neither of my fellow detectives ever could."

"And the purpose of this meeting is?" Kid asked.

"How would you feel about meeting like we are now under neutral terms and conditions that we can both agree upon."

"And do what?" Kid looked intrigued now.

"Whatever we choose to do," Saguru shrugged. "Games, puzzles, riddles, converse about current events, critique Nakamori-keibu's latest rant." That last one got a snicker out of Kid.

"Are you attempting to befriend me, Tantei-san?" Kid asked, leaning back in his seat, sprawling slightly.

"Perhaps," Saguru said, allowing a small smile.

Kid nodded, gaze assessing Saguru again as he took a sip of his cocoa. "And these terms and conditions you spoke of?" he inquired.

"As far as the basic terms go, these meetings are to be of a private and confidential nature. I don't tell the police or any of my few confidants, and you don't tell any of your accomplices about these meetings or reveal any of information we may learn or share about each other. While we may be rivals, a thief and a detective, by day and at heists, at these meetings we're just two intellectuals comparing notes and matching wits. I won't try to uncover your true identity and you don't use your knockout gas or any other items in your prankster arsenal on me. Anything and everything we discuss during these meetings remains between the two of us and cannot be used against each other outside of a meeting. For instance, if I were to learn that you are allergic or have an aversion to something like, oh, say fish –" he got a narrow eyed look from Kid for that one "– then I wouldn't use that against you in a heist because that is not something I had learned outside of this meeting and I honor the agreement to keep such information classified. And the same goes for you. If you were to learn something about me, like… the fact that I like to make tea cakes or something like that, you are not allowed to make fun of me for that small personal fact during your heists and in heist notes."

"Sounds reasonable," Kid agreed, snickering. "Now about these games… I find them to be terribly cliché. You solve my riddles all the time and I had to decode your note – which I assume is going to become a trend for our meetings?"

"Correct. Each future meeting will occur after a heist. I'll leave a coded clue for you either with the heist target or somewhere on the scene in the event that I cannot hide the clue note with the heist item."

"Sounds fun. Would you perhaps reconsider the ideas of children's games like the riddles and puzzles planned for these meetings and agree to a series of challenges instead?"

Saguru cocked his head to the side and considered it. It was true that he was always solving Kid's riddles and puzzles written in heist notices and tricks at the heists themselves. "What sort of challenges?" he asked.

"We'll start out with simple ones like word and phrase games on a trial basis and see how it works and go from there," Kid grinned. "We'll have to fulfill each other's challenge by our next meeting and have proof that we completed the challenge issued to us. If one of us succeeds and completes the issued challenge by the time of our next meeting they get to ask the challenger one question and get a truthful answer in return. If someone fails to meet the conditions of their challenge, they have to undergo a penalty challenge at the next meeting."

Saguru smirked, leaning back in his seat and considered Kid's proposal. "Sounds interesting. What kind of word or phrase game are we going to try first?" he asked.

"It's a fairly simple one," Kid grinned. "I challenge you to work at least one quote from Arsene Lupin into a conversation. You need to record yourself saying it without anyone noticing as proof. Bonus points if you can work a quote in during one of your cases."

"All right," Saguru agreed, his lips pursed but head nodding, accepting the challenge. He wasn't as familiar with Maurice Leblanc's Gentleman Thief as he was with Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, but he did have a collection of the Lupin books somewhere in his library. Now as for a challenge for Kid… "I challenge you to use the word 'abecedarian' in your next heist notice."

"Done," Kid smirked, all confidence. Somewhere in the distance, the bell at the local clock tower that Kid had saved last year tolled the late hour. "Well, Tantei-san, I have to say that this has been a surprisingly enjoyable meeting, but it's time for all good kaitou and tantei to retire for the evening. I look forward to our next meeting, and seeing the results of our challenges. Until next time."

With a tip of his hat and a shit-eating smirk, Kid rose from his seat and disappeared behind a smoke bomb – thankfully a normal, non-knockout-gas-ridden one.

Saguru smiled with satisfaction as he rose from his seat and set about clearing away the evidence of their meeting.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

SR: And that's chapter one of Challenge Accepted! Why don't we tell everybody who wrote/is writing what?

MG: I'm writing Kaito's perspective, and he wanted an even MORE complicated code than what Saguru left for him. He doesn't want me to tell you that he read that entire horrible romance novel because he needed to see if anyone would ever check the book out, in case he wanted to hide things inside the pages. He was miserable, poor kaitou. He doesn't know what "abecedarian" means, so he's in for a surprise next chapter!

SR: And obviously I'm writing Hakuba (I'm sure to those who've read any of my other DC/MK works before find this to be a big surprise, right?) He's being particularly devious right now and I know he's anticipating to see how Kid fulfills his word challenge. That was kind of fun to come up with. At first, MG and I were going to have Kid and Hakuba testing each other's wits with riddles and puzzle challenges, but I felt that it had been done before like in Icka M Chif (mischif)'s Shades of Grey series (which is totally where I found my inspiration for wanting to do this fic). So one evening I was tired after attending classes and came up with the crazy idea that Kid and Hakuba decided to challenge each other to a series of dares instead.

MG: Thanks for reading :) Please leave a review - every bit of feedback is helpful!

SR: We hope that you enjoyed and are looking forward to Chapter 2! Feel free to suggest any kinds of challenges you'd like to see out two boys go through! Until next time then!


	2. The Word Challenge (Part 1)

_SAGURU_

When Saguru retired for the evening he let out a relieved sigh, plopping down gracelessly onto his bed, nerves fried and frazzled around the edges. He hadn't wanted to admit it earlier and had done a valiant job locking away his uncertainty with his usual conviction while he'd been making arrangements for the night, but he'd been nervous as hell. He'd been afraid that somehow in spite of all the precautions he'd taken they'd be discovered. Next time he'd pick somewhere less publicly accessible, preferably without security guards in the building. Maybe a hotel roof would suffice next time. He'd been worried that a security guard at the engineering building would decide to go against protocol and take a break up on the roof where he and Kid had been having their meeting.

A part of him was angry that he was going through with his plans to get closer to Kid. Another part was thrilled and excited, reveling in the slight rush of adrenaline coursing through his system that came with doing something that was either dangerous or a dark grey area in his moral code. He was a detective after all. A detective was supposed to catch and arrest the thief, not invite him to tea. And then there was the part of him that was always thinking, always trying to puzzle out the mystery before him. And there was no greater mystery than the one that was attached to the Kaitou Kid.

The magician thief was an enigma with contradicting morals. He was an oxymoron personified. He never kept what he stole, so why steal in the first place? "For the thrill of it" and "because he can" many believed, but Saguru wasn't so sure. He'd been capturing and studying criminals since he was twelve. He was known for asking about their motives. "Why did you do it?" had become the famous phrase that his fans and clients expected to hear by the end of his investigations.

Even as a small boy, Saguru had wanted to know why people did bad things. His mother always liked to joke that it was because of the curse that his father had put on him with the name Saguru, which meant "to search" in Japanese. Since his birth Saguru had always been a curious child and tried to find out the reasons behind things. When he became a detective, it just wasn't enough to catch the criminals and know how they did it. He needed to know why they'd become criminals and why they did the things they had done in the first place.

Most cases that Saguru came across had clear motives, but even the few complicated ones where he was almost inclined to feel sorry for the perpetrator were resolved and simplified in the end with a clear motive. They were desperate. They were angry. It was for revenge. It was an accident. It was because they were scared. Their spouse/lover had cheated on them. They needed the money. That person had been a monster and had to be stopped. They were sick in the head and need psychiatric help. It was self-defense. It was a crime of passion…

Kid was nothing like any of the common criminals that Saguru usually dealt with. He just couldn't swallow the lie that Kid only stole because it was fun. There was something else to Kid that Saguru was just not getting. Kid had a "no one gets hurt" policy. Kid abhorred guns (with the exception of his custom card gun) and the use of violence (though he'd knocked out officers himself during his early heists, presumably while he was still developing the knock-out gas). Kid was a gentleman thief that had a bloody fan club that consisted of at least 75% of Tokyo's youth population and about 38% of it's adult population. People genuinely liked the thief. Outright rooted for him at heists even.

Admittedly Saguru had been greatly indignant and horrified to read those poll figures. Criminals should not have fan clubs and followings. No one celebrated every time a serial killer claimed another victim. No one cheered when banks were robbed. So why did they flock to support Kid's crimes? Half of the owners of the jewels and gems that Kid targeted had been thrilled and excited, happy to have the attention that Kid brought them with his heists.

Saguru simply had not been able to fathom it all. He'd chased Kid with intense vigor and resolve trying to figure out the man (teen) behind the act. In the beginning Saguru had only seen a cocky obnoxious trickster who delighted in riling up the police and making fools out of them. It wasn't until after he returned to Japan barely in time for the Nightmare heist that he began to catch glimpses of that truth he was searching for and started to see the man (teen) behind the masks and tricks and attitude.

Saguru had been able to put the pieces together quickly and figured out the truth behind Nightmare and Jack Connery at the scene. The police had ruled Jack Connery's death a heroic one, dying in the line of duty in the process of retrieving the stolen pair of black opal earrings, the Dark Knight. Saguru hadn't been able to bring himself to correct them. It had been the first time he had held back and failed to fulfill his duty as a detective to reveal the truth. Something had stopped him that night as he watched the devastated little boy cry over his father's dead body. Something inside him didn't want Kenta Connery to learn the truth about his father. He didn't want the kid to loose the insurance money that would help pay for his surgery.

Kid and Kuroba were different after that heist for a time. Kid still was an obnoxious trickster, but his smile seem a little more forced, his drive to please his fans appeared a little more excessive, and Kid didn't always draw out his chases with him or Edogawa (when the boy was around). At school Kuroba was more subdued, still ever smiling, but played fewer pranks and seemed tired. Saguru found himself in the rare position of empathy. He knew that Kid had tried to save Connery that night. Kid's glove had been clutched in Connery's grasp and a metal playing card had been embedded in Nightmare's mask to prevent anyone from knowing who Nightmare had really been. Saguru suspected that Kid had snuck into the evidence locker, because forensics team hadn't been able to find traces of DNA on Kid's glove or Nightmare's mask.

When things had started to get back to normal, Saguru started to notice things around the Kid Task Force's headquarters and at heists that he hadn't bothered to pay attention to before. Whenever an officer had a birthday, got promoted, married, or had a kid; a plate of cookies would show up on their desk from an anonymous someone and that person would somehow find themselves spared from the worst of Kid's pranks if they were attending a heist on that day. Sometimes Kid would congratulate them in person during the heist if he saw them. Cups of mostly-fresh coffee would sometimes be waiting on their desks during late nights that were spent deciphering heist notes.

These niceties towards the police and gifts of appreciation led Saguru to conclude that Kid did have some kind of respect for the officers that chased him. That Kid was not an entirely bad person. Kid was a gentleman and made sure no one got hurt during his heists. Kid had even gone out of his way on a few occasions to help someone. It just didn't make sense to Saguru why someone who was apparently a decent and kind person fundamentally, would steal just for the fun of it. Saguru knew there had to be more to Kid's story and motive than an adrenaline junkie getting his kicks in. It seemed too simple for someone so complex.

When they had first met, Saguru had asked Kid why he stole. Kid had told him that it was his job as a detective to figure out why. Even after chasing the irritating thief for a year, Saguru still hadn't figured out Kid's motive for stealing. He had pieces of the puzzle in his hands, but he knew he was missing some and had yet to figure out how the ones he did have fit together. He wasn't learning anything new at the rate things were currently proceeding.

Recently Saguru had come to the conclusion that if he was going to learn more about Kid, he'd have to ask the thief again himself, and only if he figured out enough with his own deductions. But he didn't have enough information to make any deductions stronger than weak, theory-based hypotheses. He couldn't do that if Kid didn't talk to him and supply hints. And as things stood the thief was never going to talk to him, even if Saguru succeeded in capturing and successfully arrested him. If Kid got caught, then Saguru would never learn what had led and continued to motivate Kid to steal and return his chosen heist targets.

Therefore, Saguru was left with only one plausible conclusion. He had to gain Kid's confidence and befriend him. Kid wouldn't open up to someone that chased him, but maybe he would let something slip to someone he grew familiar with and became comfortable around. Hence the meetings. The meetings would provide that opportunity to get to know his rival better, to get a better insight on his character and possibly his thought processes. And maybe, just maybe, Saguru could finally learn why the Kaitou Kid stole only to give back his heist targets.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

Kaito was breathless when he landed on the rooftop across the city. This game of challenges was going to be _exciting_. He could hardly wait to get started. Shrugging off the glider, he did a few cartwheels on top of the investment firm he'd landed on, and then switched to backflips when those weren't satisfying enough. Kaito had so much energy right now he could explode. He sprinted around the edge of the building, trying to burn some of that enthusiasm off. _I'll never get to sleep at this rate_. He couldn't bring himself to care, though. His hands were itching for pen and paper, needing to work out that next heist note, which Hakuba Saguru, of all people, had dared him to write. Oh, this was going to be the cleverest one yet.

When Kaito stopped feeling like his chest was going to break out of his body, he slowed down and took a swig of water from a bottle hidden in one of his pockets. It had been so long since anything had truly surprised him in the Kid persona. The potential for armed opposition in the form of snipers had kept him paranoid and therefore prepared for anything. He had lettered backup plans from Plan A to Plan M. Hakuba, however, had laughed at that vigilance and surprised Kaito anyway. Kaito hadn't been prepared for an invitation to let loose, and the fact that it was the straitlaced detective who'd issued the temptation, well… the idea was that much more enthralling.

That wasn't to say that Kaito was going to forget himself in these challenges. Keeping his true identity concealed was more important than some fun. There would be no personal information, no hints, nothing that would suggest that Kaitou Kid was Kuroba Kaito. He was wild, not stupid.

The reckless exhilaration faded as he wondered again at the detective's motives behind this tantalizing invite. The line about curiosity and wanting someone to challenge him was well delivered in the moment, but now it didn't strike Kaito as _enough_. If Hakuba was bored, a thief wouldn't be his first option for entertainment, or even his tenth. No, there was something else there, deeper than Hakuba's need to sharpen his mind. Hakuba had been different since the appropriately dubbed "Nightmare Heist". While Kaito hadn't been at his best, observation-wise, in the first few days following the disaster, he had picked up on a shift in the detective's behavior. He was quieter, for one, which originally put Kaito on edge, thinking that Hakuba had found something that had been missed when he tinkered with the evidence. After some time had passed and Hakuba still hadn't come forth with another dramatic speech about how clear it was that Kaito was Kid, Kaito had relaxed. The only way to ascertain his motives was to continue attending these clandestine meetings and listen carefully.

The magician hauled out his sketchbook when he finally got back to the Kid cave. Filled with building plans, notes, phone numbers for hardware stores, and sketches of his gadgets, this behemoth of a notepad was the unabridged version of every heist he'd ever held. The atlas-sized scrapbook of documents was the thing that would get him sentenced, if ever found. He flipped to one of the pages marked by a pink post-it-note, fingers sliding carefully over the list of jewels with unusual mythology, his potential targets. "Who wants to go next?" he asked. "I need to write you a love note with a special word." He tried it out. "Abecedarian." It sounded mystical, authoritative.

He scooted over to the computer and opened a search engine. "Abecedarian. Adjective meaning 'arranged alphabetically' or 'having to do with the alphabet'. Hmm." The detective wasn't going easy on him. Kaito pulled the sketchbook into his lap, scanning the list of gems again. "The Fire-Breathing Dragon, a ruby; the Virginal Diamond; the Second Star, also a diamond; the Emerald Promise; Hamako's Rose, another ruby…" The list filled the whole page, but there were several names crossed out for the jewels he'd already checked. Which one would make for an appropriately well-thought-out heist note?

Kaito was still musing over that very question the next day in class when Aoko thumped his desk, jerking him out of his thoughts. "Were you even listening to anything Aoko just said?"

He put on a grin. "Do you want the nice answer or the true answer?"

"BaKaito. Are you busy Saturday? Aoko's going to a museum with a couple friends."

"A museum?" Kaito tried not to perk up visibly. Natural history museums had jewels, sometimes. "Sounds like fun, as long as it's not," he lowered his voice, "an _aquarium_."

"It's not. So you're definitely in, then? You promise?"

"Yeah."

"Great!" Aoko all but skipped over to Hakuba's desk. "Hakuba-kun, are _you_ busy Saturday?" Hakuba looked over at Kaito, his expression unreadable. Kaito didn't miss the fact that there was a Maurice LeBlanc book tucked discreetly in Hakuba's book bag next to his desk, nor that there were several pages bookmarked. It seemed that the detective was taking the challenge seriously. _As he ought to_, Kaito thought. The magician had spent most of today's history lecture thinking about what punishments he could dole out if Hakuba was unsuccessful in his dare. By the end of the period, the teacher had been stammering nervously every time her gaze caught on his wicked smile, thinking that Kaito was about to pull something big during class.

Hakuba didn't lose his blank expression until he turned back to Aoko and smiled briefly. "I have no plans that couldn't be put off a day. Which museum did you have in mind?"

"The National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno district. Will we see you there, then?"

"It would be my pleasure. I'm familiar with the Kahaku, which opens at nine I believe."

"Right. See you there." Aoko moved to find another victim, but Kaito came up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What was that for?"

"Aoko doesn't know what you're talking about." She blinked entirely too innocently for Kaito's comfort.

He frowned, suspicious. "Did you make me promise because you knew I wouldn't go if Hakuba-kun agreed first?"

"You should really make an effort to be nice to him, Kaito. He's your classmate."

"Ahoko, that wasn't an answer."

"Yes, Aoko made you promise so that all of Aoko's friends would go somewhere together without _one of them_ being an idiot." She stuck her tongue out at him. Kaito rolled his eyes and went back to planning, wondering which buildings in the city had exactly twenty-six floors.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

Saguru checked the time on his pocket watch as he exited Ueno Station and began walking to the National Museum of Nature and Science – the Kahaku, as it was commonly known – which was only a few blocks from the station. At about two minutes before nine, the museum came into view and after coming around to the front end Saguru spotted Nakamori Aoko and Kuroba Kaito waiting at the bottom of the front steps with three others.

He recognized Koizumi Akako, Momoi Keiko, and Takumi Haruka from his class. He was familiar with Koizumi and Keiko because they were good friends with Aoko and were regulars in the audience at Kid heists, but he only knew Haruka because she sat in the desk in front of him. He also knew her because she had asked to take his picture for the school paper when he'd first started attending Ekoda High. She was rather quiet and soft-spoken in comparison to Keiko and Aoko, but he found her to be an agreeable and polite person to talk to the few times they'd been assigned as partners in classes.

"Hakuba-kun!" Aoko called out happily when she spotted him.

"Here at nine o'clock on the dot," Kuroba snorted after glancing at his wristwatch. "Figures."

"At least we can always count on him to be on time," Keiko giggled. "G'morning Hakuba-kun!

"Good morning, Keiko-kun." Saguru bowed and greeted the rest of the crowd too.

"Morning," the girls chorused back. Kuroba only yawned, nodding his head.

"So now we're only waiting for –" Aoko started.

"Sorry we're late!"

Saguru looked back the way he'd come and spotted two boys – also from their class –running to join them.

One was Saiki Haru, Ekoda High's sports superstar. Rumor had it that back in middle school, Saiki and Kudo Shinichi had been great rivals on the soccer field before the infamous Detective of the East entered Teitan High and quit playing. Saiki was also the son of Officer Saiki Fume of Division Two, whom Saguru had worked with numerous times during Kid heists.

The other boy was Hayashi Raito, a good friend of Kuroba's in the drama club. Saguru wasn't nearly as familiar with Hayashi as he was with Saiki, but Hayashi had come to the detective to consult on the costuming for a Shakespearean play. Saguru had been impressed with Hayashi's eye for color coordination, attention to detail, and use of varying textiles.

The two boys joined the group, panting. "Don't worry. You're not late," Keiko giggled. "Hakuba-kun only just got here himself. If anything, you're only a minute or two late."

"Hey, Raito," Kuroba spoke up. "Where's your girlfriend? I thought you said you'd bring her with you so we could meet her."

"Sorry," Hayashi laughed. "I'm afraid she's come down with a cold. She wanted to come, but she was feeling well."

"Aww!" Aoko sighed. "That's too bad. Aoko really wanted to meet her. She's from Shibuya, right?"

"Shibuya?" Koizumi repeated, raising a delicate eyebrow. "That's on the other side of Tokyo from Ekoda. How on earth did you two meet?"

"We met at a drama competition last spring," Hayashi explained.

"Oh!" Kuroba exclaimed, bringing his left fist into the palm of his right hand in an "a-ha!" gesture. "Is she the redhead you were making puppy eyes at every time you saw her?"

"I was _not _making puppy eyes at her!" Hayashi exclaimed, red faced. "And yes, that's her. Her name is Kanami Mariko." Saiki and Kuroba snickered at the teen's denial.

"Well, now that everyone's here and the museum's open, let's go!" Aoko cheered, leading the way up the steps. Everyone else fell in line amiably.

After paying the entrance fee in the Japan Gallery, their group headed up to the top floor with plans to work their way down and out to the Global Gallery that was in another building behind the Japan Gallery. Saguru kept at the back of the group, watching their reactions to the various exhibits. The girls enjoyed looking at the butterflies and animals displayed on the third floor and awed over the minerals in the "Active Japanese Islands" exhibits. Saguru kept a particular eye on Kuroba in case the teen got any ideas about the shinier minerals. Kuroba and Saiki found the fossils and the skeleton of the Futabasaurus in the North Wing on the third floor entertaining, as well as other dinosaur exhibits on the other floors.

The second floor was more to Saguru's tastes, seeing the various kinds of animals that were indigenous to Japan, the exhibits on DNA and evolution, and exhibits showcasing Japan's history and people. When they returned to the first floor, Kuroba made a lot of cracks about Saguru having a clock fetish when they went through the "Temporal Hours and the Japanese Clock, Wadokei" and "Modernization of Clock Industry" exhibits. After one particularly lewd comment, Aoko knocked him upside the head and scolded him something fierce, much to everyone else's amusement.

Things proceeded much the same in the Global Gallery, starting on the top floor and working down, as they moved from exhibits on the natural world and those of science. Saguru and Aoko managed to keep Kuroba away from the underwater sea life exhibits that might have set the ichthyophobe off. Kuroba was fine with whales and any marine life that wasn't a fish, but Saguru and Aoko were not taking any chances. None of their other six companions were aware of Kuroba's phobia and Kuroba probably preferred it that way.

They had a rather late lunch at roughly two o'clock at the restaurant back on the main floor. "Hey!" Aoko exclaimed after they paid for their meals and were making their way to the staircase for the three basement levels. "There's a special exhibit going on right now!" Saguru looked up and spotted the banner announcing an exhibition on the occult and mythical.

"Let's go check it out!" Keiko exclaimed, bouncing excitedly.

They paid an additional fee to go inside the special exhibition hall and made their way through displays ranging from Japanese mythologies and global creatures from sea monsters to witchcraft. Saguru had seen similar displays at historical sites in England and America pertaining to the witch trials. He noticed that Koizumi found these exhibits unnerving. She looked uncomfortable standing beside the displays and depictions of the trials and burnings, but was equally transfixed, remaining behind while the others moved on to a display about various dragon myths.

"Horrible, isn't it?" Saguru commented softly as he stepped up beside her. Koizumi stiffened and Saguru had to give her credit for not jumping in surprise. "Whether they meant good or ill will, any and all that were suspected were persecuted," Saguru continued, staring at a rather gruesome rendering of a "witch" tied to the stake burning. "Funny what humans will do in order to preserve what we believe to be natural and reject what is unnatural."

"…My great grandmother was burned for being a witch," Koizumi said so softly that Saguru barely heard her. "My grandmother was almost burned too."

"I've heard Kuroba accuse you of being one," Saguru said, raising an eyebrow in inquiry.

"Not accuse," Koizumi smirked. "It's not an accusation if it's true."

The other eyebrow joined its fellow up near his hairline before smiling and nodded. "Fair enough."

"…You're not joining to deny the existence of witches, Mr. Logical Detective?" Koizumi scoffed. "I thought you didn't believe in magic."

"I don't," Saguru stated, matter-of-factly. "But I believe in the practical uses of medicinal herbs and their uses in the practices of witchcraft and the wiccan arts. Like any other religion, I recognize the practices of witches and the wiccans. Just because I myself don't practice or believe in something doesn't mean that it isn't meaningful and real for those that do. If you say you are a witch, Koizumi, then you are, and I respect that just as I do Aoko for being a Shintoist and Kuroba an Atheist."

Koizumi looked shocked, more than likely not having expected that sort of answer. "And what are you, Hakuba-kun? What religion do you practice? Or are you an Atheist like Kuroba-kun?"

"I'm a Christian."

"Just Christian? Not Catholic, Baptist, or Anglican?"

"Just Christian," Saguru chuckled. "I'm not particularly religious, but I do believe in God and attend mass when I'm home in England with my mother who is a Catholic."

Koizumi watched him with a considering gaze before smiling. "I see."

"Akako-chan! Hakuba-kun!" Saguru and Koizumi looked up to see their classmates waiting for them at the end of the hall. Kuroba was looking at Koizumi with some concern, undoubtedly noticing that they were still by the witch trials exhibit. The others were just looking on curiously, probably wondering what was holding them up.

"Shall we, Koizumi-kun?" Saguru asked, offering her his arm.

"Why not?" she shrugged with a smirk, looping her arm through his.

They were halfway to the others when Koizumi bumped his shoulder with hers. "Akako."

"Pardon?"

"You may call me Akako," she said regally, her nose upturned slightly in the air.

Saguru nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips. "All right, but only if you call me Saguru." Akako leveled an amused glance at him before slipping her arm from his and rejoining Aoko.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

Kaito wanted to know what made Hakuba Saguru tick. Pun intended. This museum outing was a rare opportunity to observe the detective outside of classroom and heist settings. He'd seen Hakuba annoyed, amused, bored, reserved, and a teensy bit friendly (once), but he wanted to know what else was there. Perhaps he would let something slip that would reveal his motives.

Unfortunately, it became clear fairly quickly that Hakuba was doing some examination of his own. By dawdling a few steps behind, the blond had a perfect view of everyone else in the group. Kaito didn't want Hakuba to catch him looking, so he threw himself into the museum experience and took mental notes when the detective was distracted with the exhibits or their other companions. In the "Active Japanese Islands" exhibit, though, he didn't even glance over once. Kaito could practically feel Hakuba's eyes glued to him as he skimmed the minerals display case disinterestedly and glided past. Puh-lease, like he was going to do any Kid-themed reconnaissance with the detective around. Kaito wasn't an amateur.

He got decidedly nervous when Koizumi and Hakuba loitered in the witch trials exhibit. The two people just short of having proof that he was Kid were getting chummy, if the arm offered by Hakuba was any indication. If Koizumi was letting Hakuba in on her otherworldly talents – which may or may not be the case – he rather hoped that flying on broomsticks was not brought up by either party. The last thing he needed was for the alibi she'd given him to crumble. Ah, and she better not mention any truth potions either.

After the special exhibit, Saiki-kun realized that he'd left his mobile phone in the restaurant and Raito offered to go back with him to look for it. The girls decided to make a group bathroom trip while they waited for them, so Kaito found himself alone with Hakuba outside the ladies' room.

"So. Any interesting cases lately?" Kaito didn't really care, but the half-Brit kept looking at him like he expected Kaito to make a break for the precious stones.

Hakuba tilted his head thoughtfully and turned to stare across the hall. "There's a personal mystery that I made some progress with earlier in the week, but now I have to prepare for the next piece."

Was that a reference to their rooftop meeting? Whether it was or not, Kuroba Kaito shouldn't know something that only Hakuba and Kid did. "What, so it's like a puzzle rather than a murder?"

"Something like that."

Hakuba straightened abruptly and crossed the hall to where a little girl about five or six years old was sitting on one of the benches. She was trembling but clenched her fists in her dress, too brave to cry. Kaito watched him kneel down to her height. "Are you lost? Where's your adult?" It wasn't that loud in this section, so Kaito could hear them clearly.

"Daddy's been in the toilet for a long time. What if the toilet monsters got him and pulled him in? I want my daddy!"

"Well, I will personally go check for you, okay? What's your father's name?" Kaito noticed that Hakuba remained perfectly calm and didn't correct the girl's assumptions.

"Daddy's name is Daddy."

He chuckled, and Kaito stared. Hakuba, chuckling in a non-sarcastic way? Was the detective nerd actually comfortable with kids? That was a surprise. "Okay, what's your name, then?"

"Yamaguchi Kyou, six years old."

"Alright, Yamaguchi-chan, I'm going to bring you to my classmate Kuroba Kaito and he's going to make sure you stay safe while I go check the men's room for your father." She nodded and took his hand as Hakuba walked her over. "Kuroba, meet Yamaguchi Kyou."

"I heard." He pulled a rose out and presented it to her grandly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, young lady. Have you been enjoying the museum?"

She lit up. "Yeah! The dinosaurs are the best. I want to be a brontosaurus when I grow up. Dad says I have to eat my vegetables if I want to get strong, but I don't like them."

Peripherally, Kaito noticed Hakuba stroll into the men's room. "Kyou-chan! All brontosauri eat vegetables!" He lowered his voice and leaned in conspiratorially. "I've always wanted to be a pterodactyl, you know. Give me a set of wings and I'd be the happiest dinosaur around."

"Do you eat your vegetables, Kuroba-san?"

"Pterodactyls are carnivores, but since I like veggies, I guess I eat both."

Hakuba emerged from the restroom, a carefully blank expression on his face. "Kuroba, why don't you show Yamaguchi-chan that card trick you showed me?"

Kaito frowned. "Hakuba, I haven't –"

"You know, that _long one_," he emphasized. "It was _incredibly_ diverting." Oh. _Oh_. He'd come out alone, so something was wrong with Kyou-chan's father. Hakuba wanted him to buy time so the girl wouldn't get more worried while the detective got help.

"Ah, that one. I remember now." Hakuba flashed him a brief look of thanks before whipping out his phone and race-walked off in the direction of the admissions desk. Kaito pulled out a deck of cards and began telling a story about the crafty jack of clubs, stringing together smaller tricks that went along with the narrative, which he made up on the fly.

The girls emerged from the restroom and joined them, Keiko and Takumi-chan cooing over Kyou while Kaito explained that Hakuba was looking for her father. He continued the story and Kyou was so entranced that she didn't notice Hakuba returning with a security guard, both of whom entered the bathroom. Hakuba looked worried. Kaito kept his poker face intact while he regaled his five audience members, realizing that he was quickly running out of plot and needed to stretch things out longer, if the problem was that serious. Raito and Saiki-kun came back and joined the listeners right about when the jack of clubs surprised the court by kissing the king of hearts.

Unluckily, little Kyou noticed the EMTs rolling a stretcher past and promptly burst into tears. "Where's my daddy?" The guards who'd showed up to man the door glanced at each other. A few police officers entered the scene too, which suggested something more sinister than an accident.

Hakuba rejoined the group, pulling off a pair of red stained gloves before concealing them in his voluminous pockets. "The monsters tried to take him, Yamaguchi-chan, but he got away. He's going to be fine, but he'll have to go to the hospital first." Kaito heard one of the inspectors order his junior officers to go with security to check the cameras for suspicious figures that could be concealing a blunt weapon. Kaito fought to keep his eyebrows from shooting up. It _was_ a murder attempt, then.

A tall policewoman approached the group to take Kyou to the hospital. The child didn't want to leave and clutched Kaito. He promised to walk her to the car and she reluctantly acquiesced. Everyone else from Kaito's group except for Hakuba followed behind. Kaito glanced back one last time to see him talking to the inspector and gesturing at the security camera. It was only when Kaito got home that he realized that, despite not figuring out which buttons to push on Hakuba, he'd learned quite a bit about the detective on this little excursion:

Not so stuffy that he couldn't have a good time. More intuitive than he let on – he'd known there was a real problem rather than just a little girl upset because she didn't have her favorite toy. Good with kids. Not just courteous, but genuinely compassionate.

Fascinating.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

MG: And that's chapter two! Kid's got a killer heist note coming up and we're looking forward to their next encounter.

SR: Hakuba's also got to work in a Lupin quote during a conversation and have it recorded at some point next chapter too! Both boys are sure in for an interesting time.

MG: Definitely!

SR: This chapter was a lot of fun to write. For me, I really got to delve into Hakuba's thought processes, especially in the opening of the chapter about his motives for meeting with Kid. A reviewer - Jasnah on fanfiction - had pointed out to us that Hakuba's motives were unclear and him being the one to propose these meetings was out of character for the usually straight laced detective. It gave the both of us a lot to think about. MG did a really good job keeping me away from my dark side on this one. Hopefully we've cleared up a few questions and have managed to keep Hakuba satisfactorily in character. Thanks Jasnah!

MG: Yeah, this chapter was great. Kaito doesn't really know Saguru that well outside of the classmate and detective-thief roles, so it was nice that he got to see the person behind the pocket watch, so to speak. We've added a couple cool OCs to balance out the group dynamics and to give Kaito and Saguru some guy friends. Hopefully they'll be recurring in the background of Challenge Accepted, so look for more about them as we go. Developing new characters is a fun experience too.

SR: Also, The Kahaku is actually a real museum in Ueno Tokyo. We (me more so than MG) used the English version of their website for reference, but the special exhibition about the occult was totally made up. It was just a great way to bring Akako into the story because we both love her as a character and wanted to use her for more than exposition and as just a background character. Besides, if Kaito has Aoko, then Saguru should have Akako, even if we're not shipping them as couples, they make great bffs. ;)

MG: The case at the end was a total surprise to me. Suddenly there was a little girl in distress and two teenagers who were good with kids, and it just wrote itself. I was incredibly relieved that it was a non-lethal case. Please review! Every bit of feedback is wonderful :)


	3. The Word Challenge (Part 2)

_SAGURU_

When Saguru walked into the Kid Task Force's main office that afternoon he heard the typical commotion including Inspector Nakamori Ginzo's excessive swearing that usually accompanied a Kid heist – or in this case, the delivery of a heist notice. The Inspector's language was exceptionally foul today.

"He's been at it for three hours now."

Saguru looked up and noticed Officer Saiki Fume who was looking rather amused about the chaotic state of the office. Officer Saiki looked like an older version of his son, Haru, only with brown eyes instead of the unusual green that Haru had (a feature inherited from his mother perhaps?).

"Has he now?" Saguru mused, following his classmate's father. "What has Kid done this time?"

"He's written his heist notice in English," the officer informed him. "That's why you were called in."

"You mean I was actually brought in on purpose?" Saguru asked with a smile that widened when Officer Saiki winked at him. "I have to admit, this is nicer than finding out from a newspaper or an officer working under my father."

"Well we could really use your help this time because we can't make heads or tails of some of it. One word in particular is stumping our translators," Officer Saiki admitted.

_I bet I know which one_, Saguru thought wryly, trying to keep his collected smile from morphing into an amused smirk as they drew closer to the meeting room. He found himself fiddling with the tape recorder he'd been keeping in his pocket for the past week. He had yet to fulfill his challenge in slipping a quote from the Arsene Lupin books into a conversation and now that Kid had delivered a heist notice he was running out of time.

"Hakuba-kun is here, Keibu," Officer Saiki announced as they entered the meeting room.

"ABOUT DAMN TIME!" the Inspector roared. "Get in here, boy, and tell me what the hell this says."

Saguru took a copy of the heist notice that was being passed around and read it aloud in English before repeating it in Japanese.

"Easy as ABC, 123, Darling, you and me~  
>Abecedarian traps befall the unwise<br>The mathematician counts two stars in the skies  
>And on the luckiest day I take the prize."<p>

"Well?" Nakamori demanded. "What the bloody hell does it mean?"

"Give me a moment," Saguru frowned as he began to pace, staring at the note.

"Easy as ABC…" Bastard. Kid was telling Saguru that he'd found the challenge easy, but it had nothing to do with the heist notice itself other than cleverly hinting at a line from the Jackson Five's "ABC" song… but the line was wrong. The line from the song was supposed to be "ABC, 123, _baby_, you and me." So the word "darling" had to be significant.

Saguru had to admit that Kid's incorporation of the word "abecedarian" was rather good and when paired with the word "traps", it gave Saguru an idea as to possible locations for the heist. The third line was obviously a hint as to what the target of Kid's heist would be and the time while the fourth gave the date…

Saguru pulled out his laptop computer and began checking out possible locations and targets based off the clues in Kid's heist note. He vaguely noted that Nakamori was getting rather impatient, but the whole room was watching him with rapt attention even though groups had gathered together to try figuring out the notice on their own. Saguru went over the information in the various windows he'd pulled up, closing some of them as he dismissed and narrowed things down. Then everything seemed to click into place.

Clever bastard.

"I think I know what he's targeting, where, and when," Saguru finally announced, walking over to plug his laptop into the projector to show the room his findings.

"Please, do enlighten us," Nakamori grumbled.

"The first line we'll skip over for now and focus on line two," Saguru announced, "'Abecedarian traps befall the unwise.' This gives us clues as to the heist's location. We're looking for a building with twenty-six floors, one for each of the letters in the English alphabet, hence why the notice is in English and not Japanese. This line also suggests that each floor will be booby-trapped in some way come the night of the heist. Line three: 'The mathematician counts two stars in the skies.' This means two things: one is the time of the heist, dusk. Of course there are different degrees of dusk, but due to the notice I believe that Kid is referring to Civil Dusk which happens when only the moon and a few stars are visible in the sky."

Saguru pulled up an astronomy website that showed and listed the times the sun and moon rose and set around the world and the differing degrees and times of dusk. The page he currently had up displayed the solar and lunar cycles for Tokyo, Japan.

"Around this time of year, the sun starts to set around 5:20-5:25. But in order to determine the exact time, we'll have to figure out the exact day that the heist will occur on. That day is given to us in line four, which reads, 'And on the luckiest day I take the prize'. In western culture, the number seven is considered the luckiest number. Kid is going to hold his heist in a building that has twenty-six floors on October 7th, at 5:42 PM, which marks the end of the civil twilight and marks the time of civil dusk on that particular day."

The room burst into applause, praising his ingenuity in translating the heist notice.

"And what about the heist target and location?" Nakamori asked, almost grudgingly. "You said you knew the what and where as well as the when."

"I was getting to that," Saguru smirked. "The first line in Kid's notice is from the Jackson Five's song _ABC_, but one of the words is wrong. The key is the word, "darling" that Kid uses instead of "baby", like it is in the song. Note that the word is capitalized. Why might that be?"

"Because it's important?" suggested one of the newer and younger officers – Kenta Mike.

"Because it's a _name_," Saguru grinned, relishing in the feel of excitement that was welling up in the members of the Task Force. Every one of them was hanging on to every word he said. "Back home in London there is a popular children's story about a boy that never wants to grow up that lives in a magical world called Neverland. In this story he brings three children with him to this world: Wendy, John, and Michael _Darling_. And to get to Neverland, Wendy, John and Michael are sprinkled with pixie dust so that they can fly to the second star on the right and straight on until morning."

"The two stars in the third line," Officer Kenta piped up.

"Exactly," Saguru nodded, pulling up a couple windows to display his findings. "Starting a few nights from now on the sixth, the Tokyo Disney Hotel, with its _twenty-six_ floors is displaying a number of jewels and gems that relate to some of Disney's most popular films, including the Second Star Diamond named after the star in Peter Pan. In summary, Kid is targeting the Second Star Diamond at the Tokyo Disney Hotel on October 7th at 5:42 PM."

The room burst into applause again. Even Nakamori looked pleased, ready to take a crack at Kid again now that they knew what, where, and when Kid was going to strike.

"That was amazing," Officer Kenta said to him as the meeting came to a close. "How on earth do you do it?"

"Kid is an enigma," Saguru smiled ruefully. "One must suspect anything and everything with him. Sometimes is comes to the point that he has the ability to make one paranoid at all times."

"Surely you don't suspect his hand in everything, though, right?" the officer laughed.

"That's where most of his pursuers go wrong." Saguru smirked. _Finally_. "_I see him everywhere, because he is everywhere._ It doesn't do to underestimate him. He'll get you when you least expect it."

"I suppose that's true," the officer laughed. "He did deliver his heist notice to Nakamori-keibu in a can of alphabet soup, after all."

Saguru nodded, clicking his recorder off as he exited the offices.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

There was no truth in that saying that idle hands did the devils' work. None whatsoever. It was all really a gross exaggeration. The fact that Kaito was bored out of his mind had absolutely nothing to do with the sheer volume of mischievous activities he carried out the Tuesday of the heist.

He was just itching for the school day to be over already so he could work out the kinks still left in the pranks for the letters S and Q. Quite honestly, he should have finished all prep work over the weekend, but there had been a travelling magic show on the other side of Tokyo and Kaito had caved, even knowing that the museum trip with Aoko and company would eat up a chunk of his weekend too. On Monday night he'd slogged through two nights worth of homework because he knew he'd be getting nothing scholastic done on Tuesday.

The spring-release on the newly produced invention he liked to call the Final Denominator was still on the fritz. The Denominator was like a straightjacket in that it went around the torso and trapped the arms too. It had the same effect as wrapping lots of rope around the victim from hip to shoulder. There was a keypad with numbers and symbols on the front to open the device, which would force – _encourage_ taskforce members to work in pairs in order to press the buttons. The fun part, though, was that Kaito had left the key codes for the individual Denominator devices right on the front… in the form of an algebraic equation. Specifically a _quadratic _equation with fractions, which was why it was on the 17th floor for the Q level. Hey, if they weren't going to learn anything about catching tricky kaitou, they might as well have another kind of educational experience, right?

Speaking of education, he was in class, not at home. Kaito stepped away from the mental space where he was recalibrating a Final Denominator and looked around. Oh. Everyone was putting away books and leaving in groups for the school grounds. It was lunch break, then. His eyes were drawn to the four people who weren't moving: Takumi-chan, Keiko, Koizumi, and Hakuba. The first two girls were clustered around Hakuba's desk, while Koizumi sat behind him, doodling what looked suspiciously like a pentacle in her notebook.

"C'mon, Hakuba-kun, the papers only said that a heist note had been delivered, not when or where it was going to be. You know, don't you? Can't you tell us?"

The blonde rubbed his chin, trying to conceal a sly smile. "I don't think I should divulge confidential police information, Keiko-kun," he teased.

"Hakuba-kun!" Keiko exclaimed dramatically. She must've been practicing the scandalized, aghast look. "It's not like we're going to post the information on the internet. We're just curious. If you don't feel comfortable revealing the specifics, you could give us the riddle to figure out for ourselves."

"It's written in English and rather difficult to translate in some areas."

"But you can try, can't you?" Keiko smiled cutely and blinked more often than strictly necessary.

Hakuba just looked bemused at the obvious attempt. "I _suppose_ it wouldn't do too much harm to say that the jewel is the Second Star Diamond."

"Awesome! You're the best!" Both girls pulled out their phones to look up info for the diamond.

Hakuba chuckled. "The police are going to release the information in a few hours anyway. You needn't try to extract it from me."

"Why didn't you say so?"

"I was joking_._ If the police fail to publicize a heist, then Kid does it himself, so there's no harm in me revealing the date and location. It's tonight at the Tokyo Disney Hotel."

"Saguru-kun," Koizumi spoke up, her low voice sending a shiver through Kaito, "would you care to go to lunch now?"

The detective turned around in his seat to smile. "Of course, Akako-kun. There's an oak tree outside with a picnic table underneath it that is a favorite place of mine. I was thinking we could eat there."

First name terms? _First name terms?!_ This was a problem. Kaito all but ran from the classroom, trying hard not to think about the two people, two _formidable_ people, who wanted him captured in some way. He wasn't distracted long, though; as he ate lunch with Aoko, Hayashi, and Saiki-kun, Kaito returned to his mind space to fix the Denominator.

"BaKaito, have you been listening?"

"Mmm?" The other three at the table were staring at him, presumably looking for a response.

"I _said,_ Saiki has a soccer match tonight and Hayashi-kun and I were going to attend. Are you going too?"

Kaito mentally shivered at the thought of soccer balls, reminded of a certain diminutive detective, but didn't let the flash of fear show. "Thanks, Aoko, but I promised some other Kid fans that I'm friends with that I'd be there tonight. Saiki-kun, when's your next game after that?"

"Friday. Can you come?" Kaito nodded, mentally qualifying that if Hakuba's note interfered he would make every effort to see some of the star player's other matches.

_Finally_ the school day was over and Kaito shot out like rocket, bounding home in almost record time and flicking the lock on his bedroom door before pushing the painting aside. He worked up until his watch alarm went off, signaling that he should start packing up for the heist. He wrapped up the Denominators and the traps for the S floor – the rest of the lettered pranks were already in place at the hotel – and changed into his Kid attire.

Showtime.

Kaito started his mischief forty minutes earlier than the time implied by his heist note because he planned to watch the chaos for a while before actually taking the Second Star. He had outdone himself this time, knowing that the owner had secretly moved the jewel from the first floor, where it was supposed to be displayed, to the top floor after the heist note had been decoded in an attempt to keep it safe. He'd cleared the hotel's guests and staff earlier in the afternoon with a well-timed fire alarm, which ended with everyone locked out until the police showed up.

In order to make the evening more entertaining, Kid had placed unsurpassable obstacles on every stair level, alternating between the two sets of stairs at either end of the hotel. This forced the police officers – who were informed of the owner's plan too late – to cross every floor in its entirety before they could climb to the next level and get to the gem on the top floor. The thief arranged it so that the elevators were conveniently inoperative. By the end of the heist Kaito had come up with three favorite floors:

L was for lions, and while Kid wasn't dumb enough to let loose _real_ African cats on Nakamori and company, the liberal use of Simba costumes in the dark hallway combined with hidden speakers playing a variety of lion growls on repeat made the officers scramble to the next floor in a hurry.

Q was for quadratic equations, and it was an absolute joy to watch the Denominators wreak havoc among the taskforce members.

W was for Wonderland, and the props that Kaito had liberated from the grand Alice and Wonderland storeroom transformed this floor – not dedicated to guest rooms, but to the hotel's ballroom – into a labyrinth of strange illusions.

After the heist (and the cleanup, which Kid had done during the proceedings as the officers cleared each level), Kaito settled onto a rooftop close by. Popping open the box in his pocket, Kaito removed the slip of paper he'd seen tucked discreetly inside the display case as he palmed the Second Star. Like the previous note, it was in code in English letters. Whether Hakuba was uncomfortable with creating a code in Japanese, or whether he was simply following Kaito's lead with the English heist note, was yet to be seen. The decoded message read:

_Peter leads the way and Big Ben chimes the time_

_Tick Tock, the white rabbit might be a little late_

_so the Mad Hatter sits to have tea with_

_the Marvelous Man of Iron's terrorist foe._

Hakuba had written the riddle after receiving the heist note, it seemed. In the Disney movie, Peter had stopped with the children on Big Ben at… 8:15pm. Kaito checked his watch. _That bastard._ His watch display read 7:43. _I didn't think it was going to be tonight._ Kaito wouldn't have considered himself the rabbit either, but the emphasis on a _white_ rabbit made it obvious that Kid was the one who would be late.

Kaito slipped the glider back on, but where to go? He had thirty minutes to solve the riddle and get to wherever the meeting was taking place. The last line was clearly the location, but Kaito didn't know any men made of iron. Unless it was referring to a statue? That didn't seem right, though, because people didn't put statues in closed-off places where they wouldn't be seen, so it probably wasn't the meeting place Hakuba was suggesting. He looked closer at the riddle. Hmm. Hakuba would know not to capitalize "marvelous" if it wasn't supposed to be and – ah! He really _was_ mirroring the heist note, wasn't he? Where Kaito had capitalized Darling as a reference to a name, Hakuba was emphasizing that Marvelous was a proper noun also. The Marvel comic company? That felt right, though Kaito honestly couldn't imagine the detective reading superhero comics. He'd pick everything apart. The film rights for Marvel's Avengers characters had been bought by Disney recently, though, so it fit with the theme for the evening.

The combination of "Marvel" and "Man of Iron" brought on the obvious conclusion of Iron Man. Kaito didn't recognize the "terrorist foe" description, but he'd only seen the first two movies. Time for a field trip, then. After returning to ground level, Kaito hurried to the public library in disguise and did a quick Internet search on one of the computers. The third villain in the Iron Man films was a terrorist called the Mandarin. What place in Tokyo could that be referring to? Another Google search… there was a Mandarin Oriental about twenty minutes from the heist site. Hakuba was probably waiting on the hotel's roof. Kaito checked his watch: 8:06. That gave him nine minutes to make a trip that took about twenty minutes by car.

Well, it's a good thing kaitou were in the habit of performing miracles.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

Saguru was tempted to pace. It was 8:15:00 and Kid hadn't arrived yet, but that was expected. Kid was good, but Saguru knew that the thief wasn't _that_ good. Even a phantom thief had human limitations. Instead, Saguru reclined in his seat and looked around the rooftop. He'd set things up on the sheltered side of the hotel roof tonight to keep the high winds at bay. The Mandarin Oriental was one of the tallest hotels in the area, so it should suit Kid's needs perfectly for that damned glider of his. The hotel was also owned by a good friend of his grandfather's who prided himself on the hotel's five-star rating and reputation for being one of the most luxurious hotels in Japan.

Under the pretense of meeting with a high profile figure who wished their involvement with a detective to be anonymous – which was technically true – the owner had been quite amiable when Saguru had approached him about using some of the hotel's amenities such their kitchen. He'd even been loaned a room of his own to use on the top floor for free, but Saguru knew that Kid wouldn't agree to meeting in an enclosed space, and the hotel rooms here didn't have a balcony, so meeting in an actual room was out of the question.

Saguru had had to set things up ahead of time on the roof before Kid's heist, and hid his riddle inside the Second Star's display case well before hand. It was a good thing he had too, because the owner had moved the diamond just before the heist without informing the Inspector or any of the other Task Force members. And then there was the mess that Saguru had gotten ensnared in on the T floor during the heist itself. The floor had somehow been replaced with trampolines, and trip wires had been spread about like spider webs. He'd gotten so hopelessly tangled that by the time some officers had managed to get him down he'd heard that Kid had already stolen the jewel and left. Saguru had to hurry back downstairs, get in a cab, and hurry back to the hotel as soon as he had been able. With only fifteen minutes to spare, Saguru had somehow managed to bring the food and drinks up to the roof and set everything up before the appointed time in his coded riddle note. Saguru had felt a huge surge of pride and satisfaction at his accomplishment and briefly wondered if this was how Kid felt after finishing preparations for his heists.

He checked his pocket watch again, 8:18:43. Three minutes late. Saguru hoped that his riddle hadn't been too difficult. Was his Marvel and Iron Man clue too vague? Now Saguru wasn't a comic fan by any means, but he did enjoy the movies. The Mandarin had been the main villain in the newest film and therefore was the freshest villain in Saguru's head at the time he'd written the riddle, but now that he thought about it, the first film had featured a terrorist group the Ten Rings, and Ivan Vanko from the second film could be considered a terrorist too… but technically Iron Man 1 and 2 had been made before Disney bought Marvel, so the Mandarin was the first Disney Iron Man villain, so hopefully Kid would be able to figure out which terrorist foe Saguru was referring to.

He glanced at his watch again. 8:20:34.

"And that's why I found your riddle a little ironic."

Saguru snapped his pocket watch shut and looked up to see Kid reclined in the chair opposite him with a smug, lazy smile on his face, much like he had during their first meeting.

"Oh?"

"You're the one who's rather obsessed with time, Tantei-san," Kid said, pointing at the watch as Saguru put it away. "Assigning me the role of the white rabbit and yourself the Mad Hatter in your riddle was quite amusing. Shouldn't it be the opposite?"

Saguru blinked, surprised, and thought about it for a moment before chuckling.

"I suppose you're right, but to be fair, you are a full five minutes late, and I am and have been the host for our two meetings thus far. And some would argue, should they ever learn that I am inviting a thief to tea, that I have gone mad."

"You're right," Kid quipped. "You are mad. Absolutely bonkers."

"Ah, but all the best people are, would you not agree?" Saguru returned, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as he rose his cup in a mocking salute to Kid and took a sip of his tea.

Kid laughed delightedly, with a hint of surprise.

"True, true. Now, to the business at hand," Kid continued in a mock-serious tone. "I have completed my challenge incorporating the word 'abecedarian' into my heist note, as you've no doubt seen. How have you faired?"

Saguru pulled out the old tape recorder with the cassette tape. Before he could turn it on, however, Kid swiped the recorder out of his hand, rewound it, and hit play.

"_Hakuba-kun is here, Keibu_," Officer Saiki's voice announced.

"_ABOUT DAMN TIME! Get in here, boy, and tell me what the hell this says,_" roared Nakamori's unmistakable voice.

"Thought so," Kid snickered. "You slipped in your quote during the heist note debriefing."

"You might want to fast-forward. I don't say the quote until the end," Saguru glared at Kid. There had been no need to snatch the device from him.

"But I rarely get to listen in on these things," Kid pouted, fast-forwarding a bit past the low mutterings going on while Saguru was mentally figuring out the heist note. "Let me have my fun."

Saguru huffed, but made no move to take the recorder back from Kid. While they listened to the tape, they enjoyed the snacks and tea that Saguru had set out. It pleased him immensely that even though Kid always waited until Saguru tried something, Kid was at least touching the dishware and eating the food that he'd prepared this time around.

"_The first line in Kid's notice is from the Jackson Five's song ABC, but one of the words is wrong. The key is the word, 'darling' that Kid uses instead of 'baby', like it is in the song. Note that the word is capitalized. Why might that be?_" Saguru's voice asked, crackling on the tape.

"_Because it's important?_"

"_Because it's a _name."

"Really?" Kid snickered. "National Treasure? I didn't take you for a movie buff, Tantei-san, but all the movie quotes and references you've made recently make so much more sense if that's the case."

"My mum's fault." Saguru shrugged with a sigh. "She likes a good movie marathon now and then, and I suppose I just developed an interest in film along the way. They're a good way to unwind from cases and escape from reality for a short time."

Kid paused, tea up halfway to his lips, and looked at him curiously.

Saguru ignored the look as the recording of the meeting came to an end. When his quote finally came up, Kid chuckled, shaking his head.

"Of course you'd quote Ganimard. I'd be disappointed if I didn't know you as well as I do. I was rather hoping you'd quote Lupin. That was the challenge after all."

"You never specified which character. Just that I had to quote something out of a Lupin book," Saguru pointed out with a narrowed gaze. "You'll have to be specific next time."

"Speaking of our next challenge, what did you have in mind?"

"Considering what month it is," Saguru mused, "and its celebrated holiday, Halloween, I figure our next challenge should revolve around that. We both know what a master of disguise you are, but what happens if disguise is not an option? My next challenge to you, Kaitou Kid, is to hold a heist without disguising yourself in anything other than your white uniform. No impersonating officials or citizens. You are to hold your heist as the Kid and no one else. It needn't be your next heist, and it can even be on Halloween if you so choose. What do you think?"

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

"I think we need to be a bit more specific for the parameters," Kaito replied, thinking about all the mayhem he could get up to on a Halloween heist. It was on a Friday this year, after all, so of course it would be held late at night. "How far away from the building do I have to change into the costume? I've no plans to walk out my front door dressed for work. Does twenty meters from the building sound fair?"

Hakuba considered. "Going in, that sounds fair. Coming out, however, you have to stay in character until you lose all of your pursuers."

Kaito briefly thought of the snipers in black and decided that the hunters threatening his life didn't count. After all, Hakuba wasn't trying to get him killed… probably. "On my word, I will stay in my traditional costume from the time I'm within a twenty meter perimeter outside the building before the heist until I've lost all officers and teenage detectives." There, that excluded Snake and his underlings. "Pre-heist preparations do not count. Attending the heist should be enough proof for you, though I can rig up some cameras for when I'm in places that you're not."

"That takes care of your challenge, then." There was an unspoken "And for mine?" tacked on the end.

Kaito's smile stretched to include most of his teeth, which had the desired reaction of making Hakuba look a little nervous. "I agree that disguises should be the theme for our next challenge. Before our next meeting, you will need to create a convincing cross-gender ensemble and take a picture of yourself in it somewhere public."

"You want me to dress up as a woman?"

"That's what I said, isn't it? A _convincing_ woman, not just you with a skirt and clip on earrings."

"Why do you want me to do that?"

"It's a yes or no answer to my challenge, Tantei-san. You're not afraid are you?"

Hakuba shifted in his seat. "If I were discovered while cross-dressing, my reputation would be shattered to pieces."

"And if I were discovered in my Kid paraphernalia, my civilian identity would encounter similar difficulties."

"_I_ wouldn't be able to find work. You, on the other hand, would be praised by the criminal community for outwitting the police at sev– whatever age you are." Kaito didn't miss the slip, but let it pass because Hakuba continued, "Your observed powers of disguise would allow your civilian identity to disappear off the map. You could get hired under a new persona. I only have my own identity to work with."

"I guess that means you'll have to do a really good job with it then," Kaito concluded smugly. "I would suggest that you get voice-changing equipment if you don't want Fem-Hakuba to be recognized. I hear they have chokers and bowties that do that." A certain mini detective with his arsenal of gadgets came to mind.

"Another thing you don't have to bother with," Hakuba grumbled.

"That's just a benefit of being me."

"Oh, and you're modest too." Hakuba was going to pull a muscle if he kept rolling his eyes like that.

"To a fault. So are you accepting this challenge, Tantei-chan, or do I have to come up with a punishment challenge?"

"_Fine_, I accept."

"Excellent! I'm looking forward to the photos. Now that our next contest is set up, we're due for the rewards from this past one. If you recall, the prize for completing challenges is a question answered honestly. We both passed the first set of tasks, so we're both due answers. You may go first," he added magnanimously.

"Any question?" Hakuba asked, suspicious and looking for a loophole.

"Anything at all, though I will remind you of your promise not to use anything from these meetings against me."

"I remember." Hakuba set down his teacup to steeple his fingers. "I'm afraid most of my questions have to do directly with your identity or purpose, but I have the feeling you would cease attending these meetings if I asked you outright." Kaito nodded. "So, a compromise is in order. The one I've just come up with is related to the Kid persona, but not your civilian identity." He picked up another biscuit. "How many people have worn the Kid costume?"

That was safer than most of the other questions he could have asked, but Kaito still thought before responding. He'd promised himself not to give away anything that could lead back to Kuroba Kaito. Giving the number of Kids wouldn't pin him, except that it left open the possibility that he, the current Kid, had been very young at the start of the first Kid's career. "Officially? Five," Kaito finally answered, _and you know two of them: Koizumi and me._ Koizumi and Jii-chan were short-term kaitous, and hadn't worn exactly the same costume as Kaito and his father, but they still counted. Kaito was also fairly certain, based on strong hints from his mother, that she'd donned the monocle at some point too. "There have been copycats trying to use my name for their own purposes, but only five genuine Kids."

"Five?" Hakuba answered, clearly surprised. "I expected two, given the eight year period before your revival, but the style among the heists is very similar, so I didn't anticipate five different magicians. I suppose I'll have to win the next challenge if I want to know what happened to your four predecessors."

Kaito kept his smile on, but it was forced. "Careful with your questions, Tantei-san. I _am_ enjoying this, but my safety is also of importance to me." He didn't correct the assumption that the Kids existed linearly, one after the other with no overlap.

"Of course. My apologies. I suppose it's your turn to ask now."

Kaito leaned forward, both elbows on the table and chin in his hands. "What made little Sa-chan decide to be a detective, hmm? When the other boys wanted to be firemen or astronauts, what interested you in stolen items and dead bodies?"

Hakuba rolled his eyes at the admittedly ridiculous nickname, but gamely answered. "When I was a kid, Mum enrolled me in many things like fencing, boxing, and ballroom dancing. One day when I was twelve, I stumbled across a theft in progress: a man had just snatched an elderly woman's purse. Being of an athletic bent from those activities, I gave chase, down back alleys and up and down fire escapes." He laughed. "It was foolish, in retrospect, because I had no idea if the man had any cohorts waiting for him. I wasn't prepared for anything other than a one-on-one confrontation. Anyway, I lost him a couple times and had to deduce which way he went at intersections and around corners. This particular thief had a pattern for evading pursuit, and when I figured it out, I managed to anticipate him." Hakuba was looking off to the side, smiling. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it, which Kaito found intriguing given the blonde's self-control.

"You were twelve, and you confronted him?"

"I thought I was invincible. And if you think I was bad, I can hardly imagine what _you_ got up to when you were twelve, Kid. Back to the story, though, I did confront him. He was taller and a good deal heavier, but I had better footwork from ballroom dance and fencing. Several well-placed punches later, he wasn't going anywhere. I alerted the authorities and he was arrested. The elderly woman got her purse back, and someone did an article about it for the paper. My mum sent the newspaper clipping to Father and the next time he called, he congratulated me and said that I had a talent. I liked the idea of having a deductive talent and using it regularly, and I'd already read all of Conan Doyle's Holmes stories, so I continued with it, eventually working with the police on cases as my success rate increased. It very quickly became my passion."

Kaito hummed. "And here I thought you came out of the womb with a magnifying glass. A city chase with no backup… that's an interesting start to a career."

"Normally, I'd reciprocate and ask for your story, but…"

Kaito nodded once, chuckling. "I appreciate your restraint." Then he checked Hakuba's pocket watch. "Oh dear, it appears I'm late for a very important date."

There was a surprised "Hey! When did you take that?"

"I thought I was the white rabbit, Hatter. Here." He handed the pocket watch back. "I don't keep the things I take."

"I know." There was an odd pause in there as they both became overly aware that Kid was a thief and Hakuba a detective devoted to the study and capture of thieves. "Good night, Kid."

"Good evening to you as well, Tantei-san."

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

SR: And that's chapter 3! Our boys didn't do too bad for their first challenge.

MG: Agreed. We're super-duper thrilled for the next challenge. Isn't everyone excited to see how Kid pulls off the next heist? And Saguru in drag will be interesting to work on too.

SR: And I can't WAIT to write that. Though this chapter was a lot of fun to write too. It's my fault that this chapter got as kooky Disney as it did. Though MG did start it with the Peter Pan heist note, so I blame her for inspiring my plot bunnies to run away with the theme! And Saguru somehow ended up a film fan. Did any of you catch the National Treasure quote before Kaito pointed it out? MG did.

MG: I love movies like National Treasure and Ocean's Eleven, which is probably one of the reasons why I enjoy writing Kaito so much. I had loads of fun coming up with the lettered pranks for his alphabetical heist and I got to reread Arsene Lupin for quotes. We had a couple of literary gems at our disposal, so it was great fun to work Ganimard in

SR: I agree. I also read a Lupin book for the first time for this chapter too, so now I'm addicted to another book series. Lupin is hilarious and I was reminded of Kid a lot as I read. I highly recommend the books. The heist was very fun, MG, and I loved your heist riddle. It was fun for me to write Hakuba's riddle too. It's the first one I've ever done for a DC/MK fic and I'm rather happy with it. I couldn't resist an Iron Man reference and he's technically a Disney character now so it counts! It was also a lot of fun to write Hakuba reasoning out the heist note. I even looked up the lyrics for the ABC song and found an astronomy website that predicted the times for October 7th's (today!) phases of dusk times, so what Saguru looked up and presented to the Task Force was legit, and so was the hotel he picked to have a meeting at (I really like to do my research if you guys haven't noticed). The Disney Hotel is sadly a creation of my own, though I'm sure Tokyo Disney Sea and Disneyland have their own resort hotel somewhere close to the parks.

MG: Thanks, SR, the riddle was fun to write, and I liked yours too. I enjoyed the moment where Saguru played the entire heist debriefing for Kid. Kaito's line "But I rarely get to listen in on these things" made me laugh because OF COURSE he occasionally listens in through his bugs (or disguises as an officer to help plan and give Nakamori outrageous suggestions, haha).

SR: Haha, yeah. There was a lot of irony in this chapter. Developing Hakuba's back story was a lot of fun too just because of the kind of mother figure that I've come up with in my head and she'll be making her debut soon too, so look forward to that! But now this chapter and challenge is over, and the start of the next one will begin soon.

MG: Please leave a review - every bit of feedback is helpful!


	4. The Disguise Challenge (Part 1)

_KAITO_

Kaito spun around in his chair idly as evening fell on Wednesday, thinking about the next heist. Well, maybe not the next one. If he skimmed through one in a few weeks, made it an easy one with minimal special effects, he could put more planning into the Halloween heist. October the 31st was the perfect night for a phantom. He could invite the fans to wear their Halloween costumes. Ooh, fun. Kaito might skip a mid-month heist and funnel all of his efforts into completing his challenge on Halloween. It would be magnificent. Yes. Kaito jumped up from the chair and did some stretches, loosening up as he mentally plotted. Where would be the best place to hold a Halloween heist? An old, potentially haunted mansion would be ideal, but no jewel owner would keep their valuables in a place with low security. Perhaps a regular mansion might do if Kaito added the scare factor himself? No, actually, there wouldn't be room for all the fans he wanted to come. It would have to be a public place.

Kaito checked which gems were going to be on display at the end of October and one stuck out. There was a topaz called the Sun-drop which would be shown in the Mori Art Museum across the city until mid-November as part of a thematic exhibit about heavenly bodies. The gallery was a huge space on the 53rd floor of the Mori Tower and perfect for a large audience. He illegally downloaded the blueprints and printed them out, and examined them while hanging from the gymnastic high bars in the Kid Room. Kaito frowned. The architect hadn't been particularly worried about accuracy when he or she had drawn the outlines. He remembered from his class visit there a year ago that the space where the topaz was supposed to be exhibited was definitely bigger than what the measurements on the plans indicated.

Well, no plans could be a substitute for seeing things with his own eyes. Dropping the plans, Kaito gripped the bar, tucked his legs in to his chest, and flipped over the bar before dismounting. Humming to himself, Kaito threw on a disguise and left the Kid room. The gallery was open for two more hours, enough time to get there and look around while the lights were still on. He'd come back later when everything was dark to get a feel for the ventilation shafts and emergency exits.

As he eyed the topaz through glass, his phone warbled the theme song from a popular anime and Kaito checked the caller ID: Hayashi Raito. He hesitated. Right now he wasn't Kuroba Kaito, Hayashi's friend; he was the Kaitou Kid on reconnaissance. He was currently in disguise and this persona, Ueda Tarou, had a deeper voice than his own. Answering the phone in Ueda's voice was out of the question, because Hayashi would think someone else had Kaito's phone. However, answering as himself would alert anyone who might be watching that Ueda Tarou could change his voice easily. The other alternative was not to answer at all and let the call go to voicemail. He had six more rings to make up his mind.

The part of his mind that was Kid and analyzed situations with a mere glance told him to let the phone go. It likely wasn't anything that couldn't wait until tomorrow when they were in school. Kaito couldn't jeopardize his and his father's work because of an ill-timed phone call during preparations.

The other part of Kaito's mind, the one that wanted to make people happy and felt strongly about the people in his life, was diametrically opposed. Friendship was important and the heist was weeks away. So what if he had to trash one disguise? He could use the individual costume pieces for other personas. He'd known that he didn't have to show any kind of identification here if he bought a ticket with cash, so Ueda Tarou wasn't someone he'd put effort into.

He flipped the phone open and cleared his throat. "Hey, Raito. What's up?"

"I've got a question for you about Hamasaki's costume. Is this a good time to talk?"

"Sure. I could even swing by if you're home, but I have somewhere to stop off at first."

"It shouldn't take that long. By phone is fine."

"Okay." Kaito made use of his ability to multi-task and chatted with the brunet about color schemes for costuming while taking in every detail about the gallery. "Hey," Kaito began after they'd worked out the costume troubles, "I remember that the soccer match on Friday is an away game in Shibuya. Because your girlfriend is from there, I was wondering if you were still going to sit with us?"

"Yeah. About that." He laughed. "I'm not sure. She wants to meet everyone, but Mariko-chan is incredibly passionate about her school. As much as I want to support Saiki-kun and the other players, I don't think she and I should sit on the Ekoda side."

"I'm sure our boys won't take it personally if you sit with us but cheer for Shibuya High just this once. Especially if she's hot. They'll totally understand."

"Ah, I hope so. Good night, Kaito-kun."

"Good night." Kaito hung up and made one last circuit around the room with the Sun-drop before leaving the museum. He hadn't been lying when he'd said he had an errand to run, and it was almost time for it. Kaito found a convenience store to change out of his disguise and bought a mixture of sweets. After that, he took the train over to Ueno.

"Kuroba-san!" The little girl shouted when he knocked on the doorframe of the hospital room.

"Kyou-chan!" Kaito cooed. "How are you holding up? Is your daddy doing better?" Yamaguchi-san was sleeping at the moment.

"Yeah. The police caught the monster that was hurting Daddy." She lowered her voice. "It looked like a person, but I know better."

"Oh, you do, huh?" He pulled the bag of candy out of his sleeve with the flair of a performer and offered it to her.

"Thank you!" She pulled off the wrapper on a lemon candy and popped it in her mouth. "I'm so glad I met you, Kuroba-san. Lots of grownups are too busy to play."

"Well, soon enough you'll have your father back to play with you."

"Yup! So, what happened to the jack of clubs after he kissed the king of hearts?"

"Ah, the story! I don't know; I haven't thought of the ending yet. I'll come back soon with more stories about the tricky jack of clubs, Brontosaurus-chan."

"What about the pretty blond man who found the monster? Will he come too?"

"Pretty blond–? Oh, you mean Hakuba. I could ask him at school."

"Good." Kyou persuaded him to do more magic tricks and he taught her how to do the Sudoku in the newspaper so she'd have something to do while waiting for her aunt to pick her up. He left for Ekoda smiling.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

After school on Thursday Saguru sat at his desk thumbing through the sketches and lists of materials he'd made up for his challenge. He just knew that Kid was going to take advantage of his suggestion about holding a Halloween heist, so Saguru figured he had until then to complete his challenge. That left a little over three weeks to plan and actually execute said plans. He'd been nervous at the initial prospect of this challenge, but Kid's taunts had poked at his pride. Kid didn't think that Saguru could do it and that if he did go through with the challenge, it wouldn't be done well. Well Saguru would show him. The thief apparently hadn't done his research into Saguru's family beyond the Hakuba bloodline and their connections with law enforcement and politics. His mother was a world-renowned make-up and fashion designer and owned her own company, Beau Vous, which had offices and studios all over the world in major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney, and of course in Tokyo. And it just so happened that her favorite holiday was Halloween. Sales in the company's makeup and costuming departments skyrocketed around this time of year.

After giving his supply list another quick review, he nodded in satisfaction and headed out. He knew that he would have to fabricate some appliances to pull this off successfully, and that would take time and resources that he didn't have readily available at home. He had an appointment with his mother's Tokyo branch manager of Beau Vous. He took a train to Shibuya and got on a bus that would drop him off a few blocks from his destination. When he entered the pristine office department, the secretary greeted him warmly before buzzing him in to see Tahito Kikyo, his mother's right hand woman in Japan. She also happened to be his father's youngest sister. She was the black sheep in the Hakuba family for not becoming or marrying an officer, lawyer or politician.

"Sa-chan!" Kikyo beamed as he entered her office. "It's so lovely to see you! I was surprised to get your call. I don't normally see you in here unless your mother is dragging you in by the collar."

Saguru laughed, smiling warmly as he embraced his aunt after she'd scurried out from behind her desk to give him a hug.

"Now!" Kikyo grinned. "What can I do for my favorite nephew?"

"I'm in need of your resources," Saguru told her. "Is it possible for me to rent out a work space at one of the studios? I've got a rather… unique project that requires me to alter my appearance. _Not_ a case, mind you, it's rather… lets call it a social experiment. And it requires the utmost discretion, _especially_ from Mum. …And Dad. I'll never hear the end of it if certain persons were to find out what it is I'm… uh…"

"Say no more," Kikyo giggled. "I'll put in a request for Workspace 7 in Studio Two to be cleared. It's at the end of the hall and should be private enough, but that's because it is the farthest workspace from the molding and fabrication rooms. Will that do?"

"Don't worry," Saguru smiled. "That will work out just fine. How soon can the space be ready?"

"Oh… a day? Maybe two if someone is currently utilizing it. I'll give you a call when the space is ready. How long should I reserve it for you?"

"Two weeks should be fine. Maybe two-and-a-half."

"How about three weeks, just to be safe?" Kikyo smiled. "I'll put in the request information this afternoon."

"And not a word to either of my parents?" Saguru asked.

"Mum's the word, my dear. But only if you promise to stop by more often. Maybe help with this November's show?"

"Perhaps, if I'm not loaded down with school and casework," Saguru smiled. "But I will stop by whenever I have the chance."

"Good boy," his aunt smiled. "I'll see you later, Darling."

"Good-bye, Kikyo-baa-chan."

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

Kaito rapped on the glass door three times and waited. He looked around to see if the guards were circling this way. He'd been careless once and had been spotted on the balcony, but tonight it looked like Kaito had gotten the timing right.

Since there hadn't been a sound of protest from inside, he picked the lock and opened one of the double French doors, drawing the curtains aside. "It's been absolutely _ages_, Sono-chan. You haven't been online much."

"Kid-kun!" Suzuki Sonoko squealed, rushing forward to squeeze him in a hug. "How've you been? I heard the alphabet heist was eventful."

He squeezed her back. "It was an absolute riot. I almost cried laughing."

"I wish I could have been there. Makoto-san was in town, though, so we went on a date. I'll be sure to make the next one."

Kaito coughed as they separated. "Speaking of your boyfriend, Sonoko-chan, he was _really intense._ What he did with martial arts during the Green Emperor heist was borderline impossible."

A dreamy smile took over her face. "Yeah. He was pretty cool." The only time to date that Kaito had been caught sneaking into the Suzuki residence was during prep for the Green Emperor heist. However, since Kid had delivered a heist note earlier that day and made a bet with Sonoko which she later acknowledged publically, it was easily explained away as a one-time occurrence. She hadn't been expecting him that particular evening – they usually communicated through a pro-Kid forum with chat messages – and he'd been forced to cut short her conversation with the Mouri girl. Who knew if that little terror with the soccer balls had been listening?

He rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Whatever. I have a favor to ask of you this evening."

"A favor from Kid-sama. How could I resist?" She settled onto the carpet, cross-legged, batting her eyes dramatically.

He joined her on the floor. "Goof. I do remember specifying that when you're not pretending to be smitten with me, you refer to me as a friend."

"Who says I'm pretending?"

"Oh, stop it already."

She laughed. "Okay. It's just, I have to be over-the-moon obsessed with you outside of our private conversations because it's the only way I get into heists. It's a habit."

"Mmm, but it's not much of a stretch," he teased.

"Excuse me for getting excited about everything in my life."

"If I judged you for your enthusiasm, Milady, I would be a wretched hypocrite. However," he added, "I do remember the days when your zeal rather countered my goals. Sending Mouri-tantei to capture me for you wasn't very nice."

"I used to be pretty infatuated with you," she admitted with a grin, waving the thought into the past, "but since you revealed yourself during that murder case, and we continued talking as _us_ rather than just the screen names RedHerring and SpellMagician, you've dulled a bit as a passionate, mysteeeeeerious figure." Even sitting down she managed to strike a dramatic pose, making a circle out of her fingers and wiggling her eyebrows as she covered one side of her face with it.

"That's the wrong side for the monocle, dear, and I could _never_ be dull." Kaito thought the decline of her fixation might have had more to do with the fact that one of his conditions for their continued contact was that she was not to make any amorous advances. At first he'd been worried, since she'd taken a long time to agree when he'd named the condition. After three or four visits, though, she seemed to understand that he really wasn't interested in her in that way. They spent most of their time in person and online being silly and talking about expensive art and clothes. A couple months later, Kaito was comfortable enough to ramp up their outrageous behavior to include fake flirting without worrying that Sonoko would get the wrong idea. She'd talked glowingly about Kyougoku Makoto before she started dating the martial artist and Kaito had found himself running surveillance on the teen to make sure he wasn't going to hurt Kid's friend.

Kaito got back on topic. "Well, your fervor is exactly what I need this time, my darling amateur magician."

"Oh yeah?" She perked up in interest.

"What would you say to holding a costume party on All Hallows Eve?"

"A Halloween party? Sounds fun. Details, please."

"Mmm, I have a location for you: the Mori Art Museum. Everything must already be in place – reserving the space for the evening, sending the invitations, et cetera – before I can send my note to the wonderful law enforcement officers of our city."

She clapped her hands. "Let's do it. I'm sure my father knows someone who works high up in the museum. I'll need an excuse to hold it there, though."

"I'm confident you can come up with something."

"Of course. Why do you need a Halloween party to steal this heist target? Is the art museum especially hard to get into?"

"Not at all. I just happen to have some special constraints this time, nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Ah, just so you know, I'm also planning to record the entire heist, from my entrance to exit. I'm afraid telling you why would break a promise, but if by some chance we have the opportunity to converse during the evening, it would be better if our friendship was not revealed." Editing out a conversation with Sonoko would cast suspicion on her if Hakuba was late to the heist or distracted and insisted on watching the whole thing during their clandestine meeting.

"Ooh, now I'm curious. As soon as you're allowed to spill the details, let me know. I can't wait."

They chatted for a while longer before Kaito smoothly stood up and held out a hand to her. "Make sure to dress up in costume for the occasion."

She took the offered hand. "What about you? Are you dressing up?"

Kaito grinned. "I always come in costume, Sono-chan. You shall see."

"Tease." He laughed as he shut the glass door behind him and snapped open his glider, jumping off the balcony into the night.

With that taken care of, Kaito felt much better about the challenge. He even took it easy on his classmates the next day. It was a noticeable enough difference that Hakuba commented on it after the bell rang for the start of lunch. "Are you feeling well, Kuroba-kun? Your penchant for public disturbance seems to be subdued today. Not that any of us are complaining, of course."

"I'm in a good mood," Kaito shrugged. Then, feeling the need to offer an explanation, he added, "I'm going to Saiki-kun's soccer match this afternoon in Shibuya with Aoko and Raito-kun." Oh, that was a thought: Shibuya was near Ueno, where Kyou's father was hospitalized. Kaito made good on his promise to the little girl. "Would you like to come with us?"

Hakuba's expression betrayed his surprise, but he recovered quickly. "It would be a pleasure."

"You sure about that? You look shocked."

"The invitation was unexpected, but not unwelcome."

"Well, I aim to be unpredictable, so that's good to hear. Listen, I was visiting Yamaguchi Kyou-chan and her father at the hospital the other day and she was wondering if you were going to stop by. Since Ueno's not far from Shibuya, we could pop in after the match. She's precious."

Hakuba softened. "I'd like to see how she and her father are faring. I always –" he broke off for a moment, then continued: "I always feel better about the cases with no casualties." He looked resolutely over at the window, away from Kaito.

Kaito thought of the Nightmare heist. "Understandable."

"Kuroba-kun."

If Kaito had been anyone else, he would have jumped a mile high at the sound of the witch's voice behind him. He turned around. She was poised, as always, hands clasped behind her.

"Yeah, what is it, Koizumi?"

"Is everyone taking the train over to Shibuya together?"

Kaito opened his mouth to say no, but decided it would be worth it in the long run not to get on her bad side again. "Yes."

"I haven't been to a sporting event in a long time," she mused.

Hakuba spoke up. "Of course you should come too, Akako-kun."

"Yes," Kaito agreed through gritted teeth, "of course you should come too." Koizumi just gave him an amused look, like she knew what he was thinking anyway.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

Saguru hadn't missed the strain in Kuroba's tone or the humor in Akako's expression, but he ignored it. Whatever issues there were between Kuroba and Akako, it was their own business.

"So is everyone meeting at the train station at a certain time, or are we all meeting up after school and going there together?" Saguru asked.

"Ask Aoko," Kuroba sighed. "Come on, you two might as well sit with us for lunch so that we can coordinate better." Akako and Saguru nodded, following Kuroba up to the roof where Aoko was waiting with Hayashi, Takumi, and Keiko.

"So I take it you two are going to join us for the game this afternoon?" Hayashi asked.

"If you don't mind," Saguru said, not wanting to step on anybody's toes.

"Of course not!" Keiko and Aoko replied in unison.

"The more the merrier, as they say," Takumi smiled.

The lunch period was spent hammering out plans and details for the afternoon while they ate. It was decided that they would all meet up at the train station around 4 o'clock. The game wasn't until 6, but everyone wanted the chance to meet and get to know Hayashi's girlfriend before the game. That gave Saguru just enough time to head home and change into something warm and more comfortable for the outdoor game. Today was a little on the chilly side so Saguru welcomed the addition of a scarf and sweater to his attire before leaving. He'd also received a call from Aunt Kikyo letting him know that his requested workspace was being cleared and would be ready for his use by tomorrow morning. Beau Vous' offices and its Studios were in Shibuya – where most of Japan's prominent fashion industries were located. It was a shame that the studio space wouldn't be ready by this evening, but since he'd agreed to accompany Kuroba to Ueno to visit the Yamaguchis, he wouldn't have had time to visit the space anyway.

At 4pm on the dot, Saguru met up with his classmates and they all took the train. The trip took 31 minutes and 49 seconds, and a lovely redhead with hazel eyes – Kanami Mariko – was waiting for them just outside the station. Hayashi greeted her with a wide smile and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Kanami Mariko," he said and introduced her to everyone.

"Nice to meet you." Kanami bowed, a soft blush on her face.

"Same to you," Aoko beamed as she bowed in return. "Aoko's so happy to finally meet you! Raito-kun talks about you a lot."

"Does he now? Nothing bad I hope," Kanami laughed, looking pleased.

"Only good things," Keiko assured her. The girls gathered around Kanami and started asking her questions while the boys hung back. Hayashi looked relieved to see his friends getting along with his girlfriend. The group followed Kanami as she showed them around on the way to Shibuya High, stopping at a local convenience store for snacks for the game.

Kanami Mariko was a delightful girl. She had a nice laugh, a witty sense of humor, and a real passion for drama and sports. Saguru thought that she and Hayashi made a nice couple and contrasted well. Where Hayashi was soft spoken, Kanami was a conversationalist. They were opposites, but clearly infatuated with each other and were making a distant relationship work.

At the field they found seats in the back of the stands on the Ekoda side around midfield. The first half of the game was really close, neither side scoring until Saiki made a scrappy move that sent him sprawling as he kicked the ball away from a Shibuya player and allowed one of his teammates to score. Saguru was amused to see the polite and amiable Kanami that they'd gotten to know over the last hour and a half turn into a rabid fan. Hayashi looked equally amused, but a little embarrassed as many of the other spectators in the Ekoda stands stared at them.

When things calmed down as the teams stopped for halftime, Kanami calmed down a bit too, but the passionate fan was still brewing under the surface.

"Your friend, Saiki-kun is really good. Poor Harada-kun had no chance recovering that ball," she grinned. "But the game's not over yet. Takama-kun is just warming up!" The gang laughed amiably, and chatted while waiting for the second half to start. Saguru only half listened to the conversation the girls started up with Kanami, asking her about the players on the Shibuya team.

"What superpower would you want?"

"What?" Saguru blinked in surprise, looking over at Kuroba.

Kuroba shrugged. "I'm bored. I sat still for the entire first half of the game. You want to answer the question?"

"Ah…Mind reading? Either that or having the ability to sense whether someone is lying or not." Saguru frowned. "Why? What about you?"

"You'd want to become a human lie detector, huh?" Kuroba chuckled. "Typical. I'd like the ability to make really good food."

Saguru shook his head. Just where was Kuroba going with this? "That's called cooking, Kuroba. I would have thought you'd want the ability to fly."

"Oh, that's good too," Kuroba mused. "But seriously, even though I can feed myself, I don't have the patience to cook anything that requires a lot of preparation."

Saguru found himself smiling. "The power to instantly make good food, huh? Why not the power to perform actual magic?"

"Absolutely not," Kuroba scoffed. "It wouldn't be as impressive that way."

"Of course. My apologies."

The game had restarted. "Ok, your turn," Kuroba said, bumping Saguru's shoulder. "Ask me a question."

Saguru raised an eyebrow at his classmate, but relaxed in his seat and thought up a question. Seriously. What was Kuroba up to? "What is your favorite game?" he asked.

"What kind of game? Board game? Card game? Party game?"

"…All of the above."

"Let me see…" Saguru watched in amusement as Kaito reclined into the chain link barrier that lined the back of the stands. "I love many, many card games, and being a magician I know many card tricks, but lately I've been playing Canasta online. Twister is my favorite party game – I always win." Kuroba grinned, winking at Saguru before humming as he contemplated his favorite board game. "Hmm… I like lots of board games, but my favorite would have to be Scrabble. I don't really care if I win, but Mom and I like to see who can play the weirdest word. What about you?"

"Well, chess would have to be my favorite board game," Saguru mused.

"Of course it is," Kuroba mumbled under his breath.

Saguru jabbed him with his elbow, eliciting a snicker from the other. "I don't play a lot of card games, but I do enjoy Solitaire. I have Solitaire apps on most of my mobile devices."

"Boooring," Kuroba yawned. "So what's your favorite party game? Monopoly? Or do you not attend enough parties to have a favorite?"

Saguru jabbed him again. "Shove it. I'll have you know I have been to many parties and have participated in many party games – many of which I wish I hadn't," Saguru huffed. "I'd have to say Apples to Apples is my favorite party game."

"Really?" Kuroba asked, looking surprised. "I never would have guessed."

"It's a family favorite on my mother's side." Saguru smiled and shook his head. "My mother got me the travel version for my birthday this year, and then one of my uncles had to go and get me Cards Against Humanity. It's so unbelievably twisted; I think you'd enjoy it immensely. With the right people it can be pretty hilarious despite how horrible and immoral it is. I won two out of the three games my family played before I came back to Japan. Apparently being a detective has given me a rather sadistic sense of humor that plays well within the game."

Kuroba's eyebrows were practically merged within his hairline. "I'll keep that in mind. I've heard of Cards Against Humanity, but I've never played."

"I'm surprised you haven't," Saguru smirked. "It's right up your alley."

"Alright, my turn again. If you had to be a mythological creature, what would you be?"

"Mythological creature, huh? Umm… An elf, perhaps? And I mean the tall elegant Lord of the Rings type elves, not the tiny Keebler elves you see in children's storybooks. They're rather sophisticated and expert woodsmen and warriors."

Kuroba nodded, satisfied with the answer before giving his. "Well, I'd _like_ to be a dragon, because Western dragons can fly and the whole breathing-fire thing sounds like a great time, but honestly, I'd probably be a kitsune. The trickster kind, that is, not the kind that, you know, marries someone until it's revealed that they're not human and then has to leave. Yeah."

Saguru couldn't hold back a chuckle, his smirk sliding back into place. "Oh? And why make that particular distinction? You could have just said trickster kitsune and I would have known what you meant."

"Huh? Oh… well, you specified what kind of elf you were."

"I did, but only because there is a difference between children's fairytale elves and those found in adult classic fantasy literature. As far as I'm aware, there are only two main types of kitsune: the ones who bring good fortune and luck, and the ones that play pranks and bring misfortune."

"There are many stories on kitsune lore," Kuroba defended. "And while it's true that there are trickster and good deity types, there is also the spouse-lover seducing type."

"Ah, but aren't all the seducing kitsune female in the tales? You are not female, so why bother to make that specification?"

Kuroba scowled at him, but didn't deign his question with a response, turning away from Hakuba to watch the remainder of the game. Saguru chuckled, and waited. After three minutes Kuroba jabbed his elbow into Saguru's arm and demanded he ask another question, so for the remainder of the game they asked questions, bantering and teasing over the answers.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

The prank with the temporary tattoo during overtime probably was unfair, in retrospect, but Hakuba didn't have to be vindictive and tell Koizumi where they were going after the game. Of course she would decide to tag along to Ueno. Of course Kaito couldn't escape her. He was about ready to strangle someone after ending up between them on the train. The pair of them got along _so well _it was wrecking his nerves.

Spotting Kyou upon their arrival cheered his mood immensely. He was first into the hospital room and produced a handful of daisies for her. "One blonde detective, as promised, my darling Kyou-chan." He gestured at the two who'd walked in behind him. "I'm sure you remember Hakuba Saguru and this is –" _the queen of darkness_ "– our classmate Koizumi Akako. She was at the museum too, remember?"

"It's good to see that you're looking well," Hakuba said formally. Koizumi murmured her greetings to the girl. Lively as ever, Kyou drew the three into playing with her dolls. It was both a little strange and amusing to see how easily Hakuba allowed himself to get pulled into the game. He really was good with kids, it seemed.

After only about ten minutes, Kaito's phone chirped the chorus to Poker Face. He flipped it open without looking at the caller ID, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind him. "Jii-chan? What's up?"

"Bocchama, there's been someone investigating around one of your aviaries." That was their code word for Kaito's safe houses scattered around the city. "At this point I'm not sure why that person's there, but I wanted to give you a heads up that your aviary in Shibuya might best be left alone for now. I was doing a regular check of the camera feeds and noticed that he's been poking around to see if anyone's inside."

Kaito glanced at his watch: there was still plenty of time to get over there and deal with the problem before the trains stopped running. Back to Shibuya, then. "I'm close by, so I'll take care of it." If the potential intruder had been kind enough to start his mischief a half hour earlier, Kaito would have still been in Shibuya and could have saved the time it took to take a train over there.

"Be careful."

"You too, Jii-chan. I'll call you back later." Kaito poked his head back into the hospital room. "I'm terribly sorry, Kyou-chan, but something rather important has just come up. I'll swing by again another day, alright?"

"Okay. Bye, Kuroba-san!"

"Farewell." He nodded at Koizumi and Hakuba. "See you two in class." Hmm. This early departure had the added bonus of getting him out of the return train trip with his classmates. There really _was_ a bright side to everything, wasn't there?

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

Saguru frowned as he watched Kuroba duck back out of the hospital room. Kuroba was a strange one for sure. In any case, Saguru didn't want to overstay his welcome and visit longer than necessary. It had been Kuroba's idea to come visit the Yamaguchis after all and now that the sneaky magician was gone, Saguru didn't feel particularly comfortable staying. He liked children, but he never liked intruding in others' homes or spaces unless invited. Sure, Kuroba had said that Kyou had wanted him to visit, but with Yamaguchi Ryouichi unconscious Saguru didn't feel right staying alone with Kyou. Though he did wonder who was supposed to be watching her until her father recovered from his attack. According to what Kuroba had told him and what he'd seen in follow up reports from the precinct, Yamaguchi had been left weakened and ill even though he'd survived the attack.

"We should probably head home soon as well," Akako commented, as if reading his thoughts.

"Aww, do you have to?" She pouted. "Daddy does nothing but sleep all day because of that monster."

It took Saguru a minute to make the connection. When she'd been concerned at the museum, it was because she thought monsters had gotten her father. "Well, that man is locked up now."

"No, it was a monster," Kyou stated. "It looked like a man, but I know better."

Saguru smiled indulgently at the child until he caught sight of Akako's expression.

"He was an ugly brute, was he?" His friend looked strangely intrigued.

"The ugliest," Kyou wrinkled her nose in a way that made Saguru chuckle at how adorable she looked. "But you knew he was a monster from the start, didn't you, Hakuba-san? You stopped it from killing my daddy. I wanted to thank you."

"You really don't have to, Kyou-chan," Saguru protested as the little girl shot to her feet and raced over to a small Sailor Moon backpack hanging off the back of the visitor's chair next to Yamaguchi-san's bed side. She returned a moment later with an omamori charm in her fist.

"My aunt helped me make this for you," Kyou said, handing the little bag to him. "It'll help protect you against the monsters. Kuroba-san says you see a lot of them, so you'll need it."

Saguru took the charm and examined it. It was white with pink sakura blossoms, green tiles and golden kanji stitched into the silk fabric. He could smell a small hint of herbs coming from within the omamori. It was a yakuyoke – a ward against evil.

"It's well made," Akako commented. "There's ground up fennel, holly and clove leaves inside, right? And you said your aunt helped you make this. Is she a miko?"

"No," Kyou shook her head. "She says my mommy taught her when they started their herb shop. That's one of the strongest protection charms she sells."

Akako hummed, a small mysterious smile sliding into place. Saguru shot her a questioning glance, but she shook her head. "_Later_," she mouthed. Saguru nodded, his curiosity piqued.

He lifted the string attached to the charm and slipped it around his neck. Kyou nodded. "Now you'll be safe from the monsters. You better wear it!"

"Thank you, Kyou-chan. I will," Saguru promised as he stood up. "Well, we'd better go, Akako-kun." Akako nodded, rising gracefully.

They bid Kyou-chan a good night, leaving just as the girl's aunt arrived. Saguru introduced himself and Akako, explaining that they'd come by with Kuroba – who was apparently already acquainted with Kyou-chan's aunt. Saguru exchanged business cards with the woman and gave a final farewell to Kyou before he and Akako finally left to catch a train back to Ekoda.

"Curious little girl, isn't she?" Akako mused as they took a seat in their passenger car.

"Isn't every child?" Saguru shrugged.

"I was referring to her ability to see monsters, Saguru-kun," Akako corrected.

Saguru frowned. "What?"

"The man that attacked Yamaguchi Ryouichi was not human," Akako said imperiously as she leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs. "It was a kappa. Nasty one too. He reeked of rotting fish and sewage when the police arrested him, according to the witch I know at the station. I'm glad Kyou wasn't there to see him in person. But even still… to have known what he was before seeing his mug shots… the arts must be strong within her bloodline. I wonder who her mother is…"

Saguru started at his friend incredulously for a moment. "Let me get this straight… you're saying Kyou-chan's a witch?"

"No, silly, but her mother probably is. Kyou-chan's too young to be a proper witch. She's just a child, but she has great potential if she's able to sense such things. That kappa was old and his human guise was well formed."

Saguru shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't sure how much to accept as fact. His logical side was saying that Akako was completely nuts. However, since their conversation at the Kahaku museum, they'd become close. He trusted her and knew she had sound logic and a brilliant mind. He knew that she considered herself a witch and that she practiced the Wiccan arts, but this… this was on a whole other level. Kappas… mythical creatures… Was she saying they were real? This went beyond mere religious belief. Could he even accept the possibility that the existence of the supernatural was real outside of religious context?

"Alright," Saguru swallowed, deciding that he'd just have to trust his friend's judgment and be as open-minded as possible. "So what does that mean?"

"It means," Akako frowned, "that Yamaguchi-san's illness might not be natural. I'm going to have to consult Lucifer. I'll get back to you later about the matter and we can go visit Kyou-chan again."

Saguru nodded, sighing as he slouched back into his seat, not caring for a moment about proper posture and etiquette. His world was being turned on its ear and it wasn't even the bloody Kaitou Kid's fault this time. It was a good thing the workspace in Studio Two was going to be ready in the morning. Saguru needed something to take his mind off of witchcraft and the possibility that logic was about to fly right out the window on a broomstick.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

MG: Alright, that's the first part of the Disguise Arc. I am actually over-the-moon excited because Halloween is my favorite holiday and I get to write Kaito a heist. I'm glad I got to work in my head canon that Kid and Sonoko are buds. They were canonically friends in the Magic Lovers Murder Case (manga ch 192-196). In case you haven't read it (so, spoilers ahead), Sonoko tells Ran about this guy, Doito Katsuki, that she's been talking to about magic on the internet. It sounds like they've had lots of conversations and got to know each other, and he's her favorite person in the chat group. During the case it's revealed that "Doito Katsuki" is actually Kaitou Kid in disguise (lol Kaito, way to be obvious). So despite the almost infinite breadth of the internet, Sonoko unintentionally manages to zero in on Kaitou Kid and make friends with him. I like to think that they continued talking because Kid needs friends and Sonoko's just as much of a drama queen as he is. The Green Emperor heist is much later in the manga (ch 862-864), so I won't spoil it other than what's hinted at in the text.

SR: I know I haven't read that far yet, but I look forward to reading that particular heist. In this chapter I got to introduce Hakuba's aunt, Kikyo, and start to hint at the family life he has on his mother's side. I also got to delve more into what Hakuba is like outside of work, which is never really explored in the canon. We also got to see more of our OCs, and Kyou managed to charm her way into becoming a recurring minor character. I think MG and I had a little too much fun brainstorming and plotting what's in store for her and our main leads. Akako got some screen time and will be getting more in the future. I've been enjoying writing her friendship with Hakuba. And MAGIC IS REAL! Poor Hakuba is going to be in for it.

MG: Oh, we had WAY too much fun brainstorming, definitely. *cue the evil cackle and creepy music in the background* And have I mentioned that I get to write a Halloween heist? (Yes, MG, we heard, stop squealing)

SR: Yes, but not before I get to write Hakuaba's gender-bend challege! *squeals excitedly* GOD I can't wait to write this! And this story has developed sub-plots galore. I can't wait to see where we take Akako and Kyou's storyline and see what's going on in Kaito's Shibuya safe-house. I also look forward to seeing what we can do with Akako and Sonoko's characters. I love that we are taking these important minor ladies and giving them time to shine and expand upon their characters.

MG: Indeed, they deserve some love and screen time.

SR: Please leave a review! We appreciate any bit of feedback you can give us!


	5. The Disguise Challenge (Part 2)

_SAGURU_

"Really, Sa-chan? Those shoes with that skirt? They go with the blouse but will ruin the overall look of the outfit." Saguru huffed in irritation, trying to resist to the urge to bang his head on the worktable. "I'm just trying to help," the man in front of him pouted.

"Here, Sa-chan," his aunt Kikyo said as she brought over a pair of shoes. "These are similar to the ones you picked out. They have a bit of a heel, but I can assure you that they will be comfortable to wear."

"Ah! Excellent choice, Kikyo, my love," the man beamed. "Those go much better with the skirt and even complement the accents on the blouse. And speaking of the skirt, Sa-chan, are you _sure_ you don't want something shorter? You have beautifully long legs and a shorter skirt would show them off better. And a pencil skirt is so dull. Lets pick out something that will give you a better shape to work with the figure you're going for."

This time Saguru did bang his head on the worktop.

Last week after Saguru had started working in the studio workspace he'd rented from his Aunt Kikyo, he'd had the misfortune of having his plans and materials left out when she and her husband, Tahito Lyle, had poked their heads in to say hi.

Uncle Lyle was the son of a Japanese father and French mother. He had been schoolmates with Hakuba's mother and had been working as a model for a Beau Vous fashion show when he'd first met Kikyo. She'd been assigned as his stylist that day and it had been a love-at-first-sight kind of deal. Lyle was unique, to put it mildly, and the opposite of the kind of spouse the Hakuba family had wanted for their youngest daughter. Kikyo went along with everything he threw at her and she didn't bat an eye when he spontaneously cross-dressed. She helped him coordinate outfits, actually, and Saguru had once caught them out on a date pretending to be a lesbian couple. He supposed that it was the carefree and happy way that Lyle lived his life that had attracted Kikyo to him.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at it – Uncle Lyle's eccentric lifestyle made him the perfect consultant for Saguru's challenge. Ever since his aunt and uncle found out what his "project" was, they'd been very enthusiastic with helping him. They hadn't even bothered to ask him why he was cross-dressing. It only mattered that he was doing it and that (in Lyle's opinion) he was in need of some serious help.

"Fine!" Saguru finally huffed in answer to his uncle's suggestion, "but nothing too short. It needs to be long enough to hide the custom spanks I'm going to be wearing underneath."

"Done!" Lyle beamed as he left the room to pick out something else.

"I'm probably going to have to pick out a new blouse and another pair of shoes to go with it too," Saguru grumbled. "Bloody hell!"

"He means well," Kikyo chuckled warmly. "I think he's just excited that you're trying something like this. He's wanted to dress you up for ages and now's his chance to pass along some of his knowledge."

"I know. I'm not sure who's worse, him or Mum," Saguru sighed, running a hand through his hair as he returned his attention to the molds that he'd left sitting overnight. He'd spent a few days sculpting facial prosthetics on a life cast of his face and a chest appliance on a body cast. It had been a little disconcerting coming in that first day to see that his aunt already had up-to-date facial and body casts of him ready. However, it had saved time and he decided to just not think about how his aunt had come by them (though he had a sneaking suspicion his mother was involved somehow). He'd actually been in the middle of sculpting his chest piece when his aunt and uncle had paid him a visit and discovered the nature of his project. Being a "professional" cross-dresser himself, Lyle had suggested some great ideas on how to smooth out Saguru's facial structure.

Saguru already had high cheekbones and a somewhat feminine look around his eyes (much to his irritation). It had just been his jaw structure that needed to be softened and rounded out. Make-up would take care of the rest. As for the body, Lyle agreed with Saguru's assessment that having C-cup range breasts was better than going around with huge knockers on his chest.

Saguru thought that Lyle had taken a little too much delight in pointing out that Saguru already had a slim willowy figure that made a great base to build up from. Saguru was aware that he was a little narrow in the shoulders, which was why he wore suits with shoulder pads all the time. In this case, though, his slim body type would be a good thing. He didn't have to worry about having to hide bulky muscles in his torso and calf-muscles.

Lyle returned with a new skirt that was a lot shorter than the one that Saguru had originally chosen, but it was at least the same color, so Saguru wouldn't have to change any of his other clothing choices.

"When are you going to try it all on?" Lyle asked. "If Kikyo and I need to make adjustments and change any fittings in the clothes, we need to know soon. You're going out in this over the weekend, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Saguru sighed, setting aside the clean facial mold to work on cleaning out the clay in his chest appliance mold. "I'll have to. There is no other time before I fly back to England to help Mum with her charity event."

That was another wrench thrown into the works. A few days ago his mother had called to check up on him and to ask him to come home so that he could help her with a Halloween charity event she was hosting. "Please, Sa-chan," she'd begged. "I'm just in way over my head. Michael DuPont has injured himself and I need someone to cover for him as head of the makeup department. The other artists are great, of course, but they lack direction and don't know what I'm going for! You're so good at costume make-up and take charge of a situation so well! I _really_ could use your help on this, sweetheart."

His mother really had sounded as if she were at her wits end so Saguru had agreed (though she could have been acting – it was hard to tell over the phone). Now he only had a couple more days to pull his own project together in order to fulfill the challenge in a timely manner, and he had to somehow let Kid know about his plans to leave the country. He could always just tell Kuroba, but the magician was stubborn. Kuroba and Kid were to be treated as separate beings because Kuroba would never admit to being Kid. It was too bad, really. Saguru was going to have to miss Kid's Halloween heist. At least he would get to see it on video due to the parameters of the thief's challenge, but that was never the same as actually being there. Oh well.

Saguru set aside his clean molds and took a look at the clothes that Lyle had laid out for him. He'd chosen a nice cream blouse with a slight v-neck that didn't dip down too much into cleavage territory, with a designer jean jacket to go over it. The new skirt that Lyle had brought out for him was navy like the long knee-length pencil skirt he'd originally chosen, but this one stopped several inches above the knees and flared out a bit with furls of satin material, giving the skirt a layered wave look to it, with little sparkles and sequins sown in that flashed when they caught the light. Now that Saguru looked at it with the blouse and jacket, he realize that the glittery bits of the skirt tied into the glitter accents on the jacket, and the sheen of the satin tied in to the creamy sheen of the blouse. The shoes Kikyo had suggested were navy two-inch-heel sandals with the same kind of glitter accent on them as the jacket and skirt, tying the whole thing together and creating a tasteful, girly appearance.

"I'll try everything on once the chest appliance is done," Saguru declared, "so hopefully tomorrow evening everything will be ready for a fitting." He and his aunt carefully poured the silicon and foam latex mixtures into the right molds and set them aside to settle. "Well that's all we can do this evening," he sighed.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Kikyo promised. "Have a good night, Sa-chan."

"And don't forget to shave your legs!" Lyle winked.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

"Wake up, lazybones, it's almost noon." Kaito pulled the covers further over his head, hoping that maybe if he couldn't see Aoko, she couldn't see him. He was willing to invoke child's logic if it meant getting more sleep. He'd been up all night plotting for the Halloween heist and had finally collapsed into bed around seven.

Lady Luck must have also been exhausted, however, since Aoko yanked the pillow out from under his head and bopped him with it. "C'mon, Kaito, you promised you'd come with Aoko today."

"I did no such thing," Kaito replied from under the comforter, though he'd given up on going back to sleep at this point. "You informed me last week after the soccer match that I would be going with you to the Tokyo Tower today, and I'm really quite sure I said no."

"Please? There's a special event today at the Guinness World Records Museum." Kaito was reluctant to admit it, but that museum – one of the many attractions in the building at the base of the Tower – was pretty cool. Plus, Aoko had said please, and heist planning could wait when friendship called.

He sighed melodramatically, rolling out of bed. "I _suppose_ I could come with you. Give me twenty minutes to get dressed and eat something, m'kay?" Aoko smiled brightly and left the room to put on a kettle for tea. Kaito wrestled on a pair of jeans and battled the dresser for a clean t-shirt before following her down to the kitchen.

Aoko, as it turned out, was a master of bait-and-switch. This wasn't news to Kaito, of course, having known her for ages, but after minimal sleep, he was less than capable of detecting when she was going to turn "just one museum" into "an all-day outing". He grumbled when they disembarked the train much too early to be headed towards the tower, but allowed Aoko to lead him around the city. They hit two bookstores that were having sales, and both teenagers left happy. Aoko picked out some how-to guides for sewing projects and a romance novel, and Kaito bought three manga he knew she wanted and a popular technology magazine.

Aoko found a cute black dress in one of the clothing boutiques, trilling cheerfully that she was going to dress up as a witch for Halloween this year, even though she was just handing out candy. "Where do you think Aoko could find a witch's hat?"

"Koizumi's lair," he coughed. Then, louder, he answered, "We passed a costume store that had Halloween decorations up in the window displays. Maybe they have something." They did indeed have witch's hats, to Aoko's delight.

"The museum's next," Aoko promised after two more clothing stores, a chocolate shop, and half a dozen places filled with knick-knacks.

"Silly Aoko. We're not going to want to carry all of this around in the museum. Plus, I assume we're going to end up in the Trick Art Gallery, one of the restaurants, and the tower's observatory too."

She didn't look ashamed at all, grinning widely. "Yeah, probably. The Aquarium Gallery's out of the question today."

"Or any day when I'm with you, for that matter."

Aoko laughed. "Alright. We're not that far from Ekoda. Let's drop our stuff off at home and then hop over to the tower. Does that sound like a decent plan?" Kaito nodded.

The lines for the Guinness World Records Museum were atrociously long. "Want to go to the observatory first?" Aoko asked.

"Good idea. There will probably be fewer people in line as soon as dinner time rolls around."

"Awesome." Kaito told bad jokes in the elevator on the ride up to the main observatory, which Aoko appreciated immensely and an elderly couple from the Netherlands did not. She was still snorting as the doors opened, and Kaito let out a couple of chuckles too before stepping onto the floor. Aoko rushed to the windows to get a look at the city, and Kaito followed her at a more sedate pace, interested in the people mulling around the observatory. Most visitors had cameras, ranging from old, cheap point-and-shoots to some really sweet DSLR's that Kaito would love to play with. There were tourists from all over the world, judging by the assortment of languages being spoken and the differences in attire. The majority of folks here were in groups, trying to crowd everyone into the camera's view while one member gestured to so-and-so to move to the right, no, the left, no, just a teensy bit back, yeah, that's perfect, say cheese! Some avid photographers were alone, focused on capturing the entirety of the cityscape in the late afternoon light.

About a quarter of a way around the floor was a girl leaning against the bars, like other tourists, but she was facing inward rather than straining to take in the outside view. From the way her gaze swept around, she was also inspecting the crowd. She was tall, with honey blonde hair piled artfully atop her head and sandals that boosted her another couple inches. The heel on the sandals did wonders for her already exceptional legs, which led smoothly into her indigo skirt. Kaito's eyes moved up her torso. One arm was draped casually on the bar with a disposable camera in her grip. Her makeup was tastefully well-done, and those eyes –

Holy.

Fucking.

_Shit_.

Kaito felt his jaw drop. That was Hakuba. As in _Hakuba_. As in oh my _gods_ he knocked this challenge out of the park! How did he do that? He didn't habitually cross-dress like Kaito did – or at least, that's what Kaito had assumed. The magician had thought that it would be interesting to see what Hakuba had learned from Kid's disguises, and had anticipated that the detective's attempt would be amusing, but this was totally unexpected. Lady Hakuba looked extremely comfortable in her apparel, including whatever apparatus was strapped on to give her a nice chest. Damn.

Kaito glanced back at Aoko, who was snapping away on her mobile phone's camera. He wound his way around vaguely in Lady Hakuba's direction, trying not to make it look like he was zeroing in on her. He could introduce himself and do a couple magic tricks. It was well within character for Kaito to strike up a conversation with a stranger, and depending on how the exchange played out, he might even hint that he recognized Hakuba. It wouldn't do to say so outright, because Kuroba Kaito wasn't supposed to know that Hakuba had been dared to masquerade as a woman. Kaito could offer to take her picture with the camera, since Hakuba had clearly come alone and was supposed to bring physical evidence of completing the challenge to their next post-heist meeting. Kaito hadn't expected to see Lady Hakuba in person, but this was a pleasant surprise.

Hmm. Another teen girl jogged up next to Lady Hakuba to look out the window, and Hakuba turned and said something to her. Kaito couldn't tell from this distance if Hakuba had done something to change his voice, but the Japanese girl wasn't looking at him oddly, so Lady Hakuba must sound all right. The stranger smiled and nodded, holding a hand out for Lady Hakuba's camera. Kaito's plan to take a souvenir photo for her had come mere minutes too late, it seemed. He edged closer anyway to see if he could hear what they were saying.

"Thank you," Lady Hakuba was saying to the girl in a convincing, throaty alto with a hint of a French accent as Kaito got within earshot. "I'm visiting from France, so I'm afraid I don't know too many people here in Japan. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The girl with green eyes smiled again. "Tha pleasure's mutual. Ya've gotta good grasp on tha language fer a foreigner. My name's Toyama Kazuha."

"Renee Benoit. Ah, my apologies, it's 'Benoit Renee' here." It was an intentional mistake, but it made sense for the tourist persona Hakuba had donned. "Are you from Tokyo?"

"Nah, I'm in town fer tha weekend with some friends. I live in Osaka. Ya should definitely visit there if ya haven't already."

Kaito opened his mouth to introduce himself when a teen with a baseball cap stormed over, drawing both the girls' – er, Hakuba and Toyama-san's – attention. The guy was muttering about how some people always ran off without waiting for everyone else. Toyama-san took a deep breath to give him a what-for when Kaito recognized him from Kid's research: Hattori Heiji, Detective of the West and friends with that miniature menace from Beika.

Kaito had… _borrowed_ the Detective Koushien case files from the police station after everything had been sorted out, because really, how could he pass up information about a gathering of teenage detectives? Two of Kid's most fervent troublemakers had been in attendance, and he'd needed to see if the group would ever join forces for a Kid heist.

_Oh._ Kaito realized something else: Hattori knew Hakuba, and they didn't get along, and Hakuba was here dressed as a woman. Kaito didn't actually want Hakuba's reputation to be destroyed. These challenges were supposed to be a bit of fun, not harmful. Therefore, Kaito might have to run some interference if Hattori started looking at her chest too closely.

Kaito opened his mouth again to introduce himself.

This was about to get interesting in a variety of ways.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

Saguru had been apprehensive after he'd put the whole disguise on that morning. Everything fit great and his chest appliance had come out even better than he'd hoped, the seams being perfectly thin and easy for his aunt to blend into his skin for a flawless and natural look. The custom padded spanks also helped to give him a figure while also helping hide his male bits. Then there was the choker. Saguru knew that he was a decent actor, but he also knew that he'd never be able to pull off speaking consistently in a female voice like Kid could, so he'd made a voice changer and fit it into the choker he was wearing to hide his Adam's apple. The device stimulated Hakuba's vocal cords and, after some mild adjustments and calibrations, helped heighten the pitch of his voice from a male's tenor range to a woman's alto.

Saguru had also decided at the last minute not to wear a wig. He was afraid that if it got caught on something or someone pulled on it and he'd be revealed. So he'd spent a good chunk of his morning sitting in a salon chair, allowing his aunt to color his real hair a couple shades lighter and added long hair extensions – which thankfully they could do. Saguru made a mental note to get a hair cut after the challenge was over. It was getting a little shaggy. While getting his hair done, Lyle had started painting his toenails – because what self-respecting woman Saguru's age wouldn't paint her nails if she was going to be wearing sandals and a cute outfit while out on the town? – and applied acrylic French-manicure fingernails.

After his aunt and uncle were finished dressing and making him up, he'd had to blink in bewilderment at the mirror. He looked great. Now he needed to perfect the assumed identity that went with the appearance. Fortunately, he'd thought of that. "Uncle Lyle, do you have Renee's passport?"

"Her things are right here," he answered, pointing to a bag on the table. "Her eyes are a bit different from yours, but you could suggest that the glare from her glasses affected that. The difference in hair color can easily be explained with hair dye." Saguru had met Uncle Lyle's niece Renee Benoit a few times on some of his visits to Paris and found her to be as eccentric as her uncle. During the planning stages for this event, Lyle had called his favorite niece up and asked if it would be alright for Saguru to borrow her identity for an afternoon. Now a normal person would (should) have been appalled to have their identity borrowed (unless it involved Kid and they were fans), but Renee had actually been excited to learn about the project and had given her permission on the condition that she be sent pictures of "her time in Tokyo." She had even asked if she should come out to Japan for the occasion, but Saguru shot that idea down quickly before Lyle got any more ideas (probably something dealing with the two of them pretending to be sisters), and reassured Renee that it wasn't necessary for her to come out. The girl had mailed him her passport and one of her cellphones anyway "for authenticity sake," and said she would see him when he returned to London for his mother's charity event. God, was everyone in his family with European blood nuts? If so, Saguru could only wonder about his own sanity. He was willingly cross-dressing and having secret late-night meetings to exchange challenges with the thief who was probably the closest thing he'd ever had to a best friend. Lord help him.

Irrational antics from his relations (and quite possibly himself) aside, Saguru gathered what he needed, grudgingly including Renee's passport and cellphone. After the first few nerve-wracking moments upon leaving the studio and catching a bus to Tokyo Tower, Saguru had started to relax and actually began to enjoy himself. He could now kind of understand why Kid chose to disguise as a woman a lot of the time. People opened doors for him, allowed him to take their seat on the bus, and were generally nice to him. The downside was the lechers. He'd had a rather uncomfortable moment on the bus when a man was leering at him and had patted his ass as he walked past to get off. _That_ Saguru could have done without.

Now he was at Tokyo Tower and bought a disposable camera at the souvenir store. There was some kind of event going on downstairs, so Saguru decided to just head up and have his picture taken on one of the observation deck floors. Keeping in character, Saguru took a selfie of himself on the camera for Renee, before looking around at the crowd, hoping to find someone to take a couple decent pictures of him for his challenge.

To his surprise and unease, he saw Kuroba and Aoko as they exited the elevator. Saguru made sure not to openly watch them, taking a moment to compose himself. He kept tabs on Kuroba out of the corner of his eye, though, and it was amusing to see his rival staring at him with a slack jaw. He couldn't be sure if Kuroba had recognized him or not, but this was starting to become fun. Maybe he could mess with Kuroba a bit. His classmate was clearly intent on making some kind of contact with him, as the trickster slipped away from Aoko and started subtly making his way over towards Saguru.

When a girl his age came up next to him and he asked her to take his picture, she started up a conversation and he lost track of Kuroba. Then one of Toyama's companions joined them, and it was Hattori Heiji. Shit. Saguru recovered quickly from his shock while the hotheaded detective and Toyama bickered, but now he was feeling nervous. Hattori might be a rather rash individual, but he was perceptive… and so was the little boy that Saguru could now see ducking between legs to reach them. Crap. Edogawa Conan was here too with his guardian, Mouri Ran. Edogawa was even better at noticing things than Hattori. After a minor internal panic attack, Saguru reassured himself that his disguise was well put together and neither of his fellow detectives had reason to suspect he was anyone other than Renee Benoit.

Saguru would've excused himself to find someone else to take the damn picture, but Toyama had his camera. "Ah, pardon me," Saguru tried to speak up over the two Osakans' growing argument.

"Ah! Sorry!" Toyama exclaimed, turning back around to face him and ignored Hattori altogether. "I was gonna take yer picture fer ya."

"Geez, Kazuha," Hattori huffed, noticing Saguru. "Sorry, 'bout my friend. She's a bit scatterbrained. Name's Hattori Heiji."

"Benoit Renee," Saguru said, introducing "herself".

"Oi! Heiji-niichan! Kazuha-neechan!" Edogawa's young voice piped up.

"You two shouldn't wander off like that," Mouri huffed as she joined them. "We almost lost you in the crowd."

"Ah, sorry, Ran-chan," Toyama gasped, bowing deeply in apology.

Hattori, who had been criticizing Toyama for the same offense, changed the subject. "Kazuha, ya still got Benoit-han's camera," he pointed out.

"Shut it, ahou, I know that," Toyama scowled at her friend before returning her attention to Saguru. "Sorry. Where did ya want yer picture taken?"

"Uh, I think here is good," Saguru replied with a smile, trying to relax even though both Hattori and Edogawa were watching him. While Kazuha snapped a couple pictures, Edogawa's eyes were sharp and intense and Hattori was staring at him with a curious expression. Did they suspect something?

"Have we met somewhere before, nee-chan?" Edogawa asked in that childish voice that didn't fool Saguru for a moment. Hattori's eyes narrowed a bit, looking at him.

"I don't believe so," Saguru responded, frowning. Edogawa's gaze didn't lose any of its intensity.

"Ya know… ya do look familiar," Hattori mused. "Ya ever been ta Osaka before?"

"No," Saguru answered truthfully, shaking his head, "though I have visited Tokyo a couple times before now. I have some family here." He smiled at Toyama as she handed the camera back to him.

"And yet I don't see anyone accompanying ya. Did ya come here alone?" Hattori asked, an eyebrow rising.

"Shouldn't someone be showing you around, nee-chan?" Edogawa asked. "You're not familiar with Japan, right?"

"My relatives are rather busy today," Saguru replied, "and I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"Heiji, quit pestering her," Toyama snapped.

"Yeah, what's with all the questions, you two?" Mouri asked. Hattori and Edogawa looked like they were about to respond when someone called out to Saguru.

"Ah! Benoit-chan!" Saguru blinked in surprise, not having expected Kuroba to appear even though he knew that his classmate was around.

"Hello," Kuroba smiled, nodding his head in acknowledgment of Hattori's group before returning his attention to Saguru. "I believe we met at the Ota Memorial Museum the other day. What a coincidence that we'd run into each other again. I'm Kuroba Kaito, if you don't remember." Kuroba paused and Saguru tried to gather his scattered thoughts, wondering what the magician was up to. After a moment, Kuroba continued with a smile that seemed uncomfortable, "Perhaps I was mistaken." He magicked a rose into his hand and held it out to Saguru as an apology.

Well, if there were any doubts before about whether Kuroba had recognized Saguru, there weren't any now. Kuroba was up to something, but Saguru didn't have time to deduce what it was because Hattori-bloody-Heiji was standing there trying to figure out why Renee Benoit looked so familiar. "Ah! No, you were not mistaken. I've been to so many museums in the past week that it took a moment to place you. Pleased to see you again. Kuroba-kun, right."

Kuroba beamed. "How's your visit going?"

"It's been great," Saguru smiled, startling when his cellphone suddenly rang. It was Lyle. Saguru made a mental note to switch over to French. "_Bonjour_?"

"_How's it going? You haven't run into any troubles I trust?_" Lyle answered back in French.

"_Nothing I can't handle_," Saguru sighed, leaning against the rail. A sudden idea struck him. Hattori and Edogawa were suspicious because Saguru still looked enough like himself to be familiar. Well if he was ever going to get them off his back… "_How's your project coming?_"

"_Project? Ah! You _have_ run into some trouble, haven't you?_" Lyle chuckled.

"You've run into some trouble?" Saguru huffed, switching back to Japanese and playing up Renee's character. "If you're that concerned about it, ask Saguru. He'll be able to tell what looks authentic and what doesn't, unless he's ignoring you."

"Ah! You wound me! Why would my sweet nephew ignore me?"

"Why indeed," Saguru commented dryly. "Ask the detective himself. Well, I'm fine. I'll see you when I return. _Au revoir_." Clicking his phone shut, Saguru returned his attention to the group before him. "Sorry. That was my uncle checking in."

"I couldn't help overhearing, but is your cousin a detective too?" Mouri asked.

"Too?" Saguru asked, feigning confusion.

"Heiji an' Ran-chan's dad are detectives," Kazuha explained.

Saguru smiled. "Ah. Then maybe you know my cousin, Hakuba Saguru."

"Hakuba?!" Hattori gaped. "Yer related ta that guy?"

"He's my uncle's wife's nephew," Saguru explained. "I see him all the time when he visits France. Tell me, are you a Holmes fanatic as well, Hattori-san?"

"Hell no!" Hattori protested. "Kudo's tha Holmes nut." Edogawa narrowed his eyes at Hattori and started demanding what was wrong with Sherlock Holmes.

Saguru was relieved to see most of the suspicion gone from Hattori and Edogawa's eyes. They'd bought it. Kuroba looked torn between amusement and surprise. Saguru winked at him.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

Either Hakuba did this regularly, or he had composure made of iron. Kaito was surprised at the wink that came his way, but he was quick to reciprocate. Lady Hakuba – or Renee Benoit, as she'd introduced herself – had neatly deflected the suspicion of the other two detectives.

Now that a pair of overly nosy gumshoes wouldn't be following, Kaito made a move to extract Hakuba from the situation. "Benoit-chan, do you have dinner plans this evening? There are several restaurants downstairs, and my dear friend and I would be delighted to have extra company. I believe you'd get along splendidly with us." He held out an arm.

Hakuba gave him a very sarcastic quirk of the eyebrows before he returned to the façade. "I'm sure I will." He looped his arm through Kaito's, though not without a brief moment of hesitation. Turning back to the group, he bowed to Toyama. "Thank you, Toyama-san. I can hardly wait to send these pictures home."

"Not a problem," she beamed. "Here, lemme give ya my number, in case ya ever come ta Osaka." She tore a corner off of a receipt from her purse and scrawled a phone number on it. Hakuba thanked her again before he and Kaito left them.

"Your hair is stunning, Benoit-chan," Kaito commented blithely as the two crossed the room back to where Aoko was standing. "Are you a natural blonde?"

"You flatter me, _Monsieur Kuroba_."

Kaito smiled. So they'd be keeping up the façade in public even when no one was listening. Cautious as always. "You're the kind of girl that deserves to be flattered. Adventurous, intelligent, lovely."

"How could you have drawn all those conclusions about me?" Hakuba asked. There might have been some subtle batting of eyelashes. "We've only met twice."

Kaito ticked off the three points on his fingers. "It takes bravery to venture out alone in a country where your primary language isn't spoken. You studied up quite a bit about the Japanese language, culture, and art, as evidenced by our encounter at the museum. And dear, it doesn't take a detective to tell that you're gorgeous. _That_ was the easiest deduction this humble magician could ever make."

"You've got quite the way with words, _Monsieur Kuroba_."

"I come by it honestly." The conversation ended as they reached Aoko, and Kaito introduced the "girls" with a smile. "Aoko, this is Benoit Renee. We met a week ago at a museum and I just spotted her here. I just learned that Benoit-chan is Hakuba-kun's cousin. Sort of. She's visiting her family here. Benoit-chan, this is Nakamori Aoko."

Aoko held out a hand to shake, apparently remembering the western custom. "Pleased to meet you, Benoit-san."

Hakuba shook her hand. "The pleasure is mine. I hope you don't mind that Kuroba-kun invited me to join you. I'd hate to intrude."

"Not at all. Aoko would love to hear about your travels so far. Where else have you been since you got to Japan?" Kaito smiled to himself as Aoko took a genuine interest in Renee, asking all sorts of questions while they rode the elevator down to the restaurants. She didn't stop when they were seated, and every once in a while Kaito would toss in a question to test the limits of Hakuba's cover story. The light kicks under the table proved that his mischief had not gone unnoticed.

Hakuba finally got a chance to take a sip of his water when Aoko excused herself to the ladies' room. Kaito caught sight of the fake nails and grinned. Hakuba had been very thorough with the details. Hakuba saw the direction of his gaze and kicked him again.

"Benoit-chan, so forward! Only the second date and you're playing footsie with me."

"I think _you're_ the forward one, Kuroba-kun. I wouldn't call these chance encounters dates. You'd have to be quite a bit more charming for that." The retort was followed by a scream from behind Kaito, and the magician whipped around to find the source. On the other side of the restaurant there was a woman who'd knocked her chair over and was pointing at one of the other people from her table. The man had fallen onto the ground and lay there unmoving, his glass spilling a light liquid and a handful of ice down the tablecloth and onto the floor.

When Kaito turned back around to see Hakuba's reaction, he found the cross-dressing detective's chair empty. "So much for staying under the radar," he muttered, and took off after Hakuba towards the crime scene. And what a coincidence, the trouble magnet was eating here too, along with the three teens he'd come with.

Hakuba whipped his camera out, snapping shots of the scene and the victim. Hattori sidled up beside him, trying to keep other people away. Someone else at the table – not the hysterical woman – had contacted the police, and the munchkin had gloves out and was examining the body. The two teenage detectives were getting along better than Kaito had expected, but then, Hattori didn't know who he was working with.

"Benoit-chan?" Kaito ventured. "Doesn't forensics usually take the photos?"

Hattori answered for him. "It's tha ice. By the time tha cops get here, it'll all be melted. I don't know the stats for folks puttin' poison in ice, but it's better to have them in case that's what happened." He looked over at Hakuba. "Do ya follow your cousin's cases or somethin'?"

"No," Hakuba answered, "I've just heard enough about some of them during his visits and I read enough mystery fiction to know the gist of things."

The authorities showed up and Hattori took charge to inform them what had happened. Hakuba was remarkably staying out of things for the most part, but wasn't afraid to butt in and add anything that the Osakan had missed, and the bespectacled boy made sure to ask the right question, in that innocent voice of his, to people's attention. Kaito just stood there alone, trying not to get in everyone's way. Aoko hadn't wanted to leave him and "Benoit-san" but she had to go home after a call from her father. Something about taking their cat to the vet.

Finally, after what felt like forever to the bored magician, it looked like the underage detectives were satisfied with the proceedings and the culprit was being taken into custody.

Hakuba looked surprised to see Kaito still standing there. "I thought you'd left."

"Benoit-chan, I wouldn't abandon a lady in distress."

"Distress?"

"It's late and you haven't eaten yet because the case came up. C'mon, I'll take you somewhere with good food, okay?"

More surprise. "If you insist." Kaito held out his arm again, and this time Hakuba didn't hesitate to take it.

Halfway through the main course at a restaurant on the other side of the city, Hakuba's phone rang. He frowned, but answered. "Hello?"

Kaito could hear the other end of the conversation from his seat. "This was the phone number left to the Minato police division by Benoit Renee. Is this her?"

"Yes."

"We'd like you to come in about something concerning the incident at Tokyo Tower."

Kaito watched Hakuba start to panic a little. "Is there a problem?" He'd needed to show them his passport as identification, Kaito remembered. Had they found something wrong with it?

"I'm sorry about the oversight, but because things were so busy at the scene, we neglected to collect your camera, which contains photo evidence. Please bring it to the station at your earliest convenience."

"You're confiscating my camera?" Hakuba clarified, looking defeated.

"Temporarily, yes. As soon as the case is wrapped up, we will return it to you. If you've left the country by then, we can have it mailed to your address." What Kaito realized, and what Hakuba had undoubtedly already thought of, was that all of the evidence that Hakuba had collected for Kid's challenge was on that camera. If Hakuba handed it in, the police would hold onto it for at least a month, way past the date of Kid's next heist.

Hakuba sighed heavily. "I… alright. I'll bring it in as soon as I can get there."

Kaito nudged the detective's foot after he'd hung up. "Don't look so gloomy, Benoit-chan. You can always get another camera and take more pictures of this beautiful city." And get the proof he needed for Kid.

"I'm leaving the country tomorrow to visit my relations in England. Today was my last opportunity."

There was still a way, though: "Could you take pictures in England?"

"Not a chance."

"Oh. Are you coming back to Japan?"

"Eventually." Ah. Too late for the Halloween heist and too late for their next meeting.

Unless he came up with something soon, it seemed like Hakuba was going to fail his challenge.

xxxxxxXXXxxxx

SR: Woo! And that was chapter five! We're leaving things on a rather interesting note this time, aren't we MG? God this chapter was so much fun to write, though I think every chapter for this story has and will continue to be fun to write. I think we were both laughing as we wrote this and read each others' parts. I really needed to be reeled in on this one. Between Lyle, Saguru and Renee, my plot bunnies ran wild. And we got to introduce Hattori and Conan! That was really fun to have them show up.

MG: Yeah, this was an interesting ending. What is Hakuba going to do? And our West and East detectives will definitely be brought up again eventually. Also, in case you were worried, Kaito hasn't outed himself as Kid to Hakuba by recognizing the detective in drag. At some point he questions Hakuba about the event, and of course Hakuba won't tell him why

SR: In case any of you guys were wondering, a lot of the stuff from Hakuba's first part involving the prosthetics and chest appliances was based off of what I've seen on Sci-Fi Channel's Face Off. I have been watched Face Off for the last couple of months now and got totally hooked. It's actually what inspired this whole challenge to begin with as well as a lot of aspects in what I've integrated into Hakuba's character and his family. The plot bunnies would not leave me alone and way back when we were still writing the start of the Alphabet Heist/Word Challenge, I had to tell MG about my idea and we agreed that because we're nearing Halloween, it'd be Hakuba's next challenge and worked off of it to come up with Kaito/Kid's challenge. Speaking of which, I can NOT wait to see how Kid's Halloween heist goes down, MG.

MG: I'm looking forward to it too! Kaito's going to have a blast. Thanks for reading, and please leave a review! We appreciate every bit of feedback


	6. The Disguise Challenge (Part 3)

_KAITO_

Kaito flipped to the next page in the newspaper and whistled cheerfully to himself. He'd come up with a couple of challenge ideas to inflict on Hakuba if the detective didn't manage to recover the camera, and the empty seat a few desks over suggested that "Benoit Renee" hadn't been lying when she said she was leaving the country. Of course, the real Benoit Renee wasn't in Japan to start with, and _that_ – the fact that Hakuba's cover was more than just a name, that it was a whole _person_ he was borrowing – had been a bit of a surprise to Kaito when he'd gone to trace the passport Hakuba had shown and checked out with the police. He'd also found an airline reservation made by Mademoiselle Benoit bound for London that originated from Paris, France, as well as a reservation made by Hakuba Saguru from Japan to London to arrive on the same day. Kaito hadn't expected him to utilize outside help. There wasn't a formal rule against it, but of all challenges possible, Kaito had thought that Hakuba would want to keep this one quiet.

A quick trip to Facebook to look up the girl had proved that Benoit Renee and Hakuba Saguru were, in fact, distantly related. Renee had some old pictures on her page from a few family events back in middle school, and a few photos revealed, amidst the vast family, a slightly dorky, tween Hakuba Saguru. Kaito had practically squealed when he saw the link to Saguru James Hakuba's Facebook page in the "suggested" column, because he could just _imagine_ the teasing material that he'd unearth there, but was disappointed to find that it was just a fan page. He was interested in a few pictures from a gaming convention that Renee had attended with her sort-of-cousin. The outgoing girl had fashioned a kick-ass homemade Zelda cosplay. The elegant dress would have made any one of Kaito's female personas weep with envy. Hakuba stood next to the beautiful Zelda in an equally impressive Link ensemble, complete with sword and pointy ears. The detective was actually smiling in the picture. Kaito remembered Hakuba's statement at the soccer match that he would probably be an elf, out of all the mythological creatures.

Kaito paused in the middle of whistling the refrain for "Magic" by The Cars – Renee had liked 80s music in middle school and had posted about it often – when he spotted a rather curious notice in the personals section. There were usually a handful of ads written in English, but this one piqued his interest, given the last riddle he'd exchanged with Hakuba. It read:

_TO THE WHITE RABBIT –_

_Stag kangaroo falcon nightingale mastiff badger corgi hummingbird barracuda butterfly leopard gecko toucan cat seal giraffe wombat puma raccoon monkey armadillo penguin moose tortoise gerbil rhinoceros snake rat gopher piranha sheep husky buffalo emu._

It was nonsense, but of an organized kind. There was some kind of word puzzle here. Kaito copied the words over into his math notebook and spent first period rearranging the letters to get some kind of coherent message. After math was English, and Kaito was too busy examining the individual letters to read properly. Thankfully, the teacher didn't call on him today.

By fourth period, Kaito was about to give up on this monstrosity of a coded message. There were so many letters that the permutations were practically endless. He'd done the math earlier, and despaired at the prospects of stumbling upon the right order for the letters. It was possible that the message wasn't even for him. Perhaps it was meant for a huge fan of Lewis Carroll. Reluctantly, he dragged himself back to the original message and read just the first letters to see if that meant something. Eh… no. Then he read just the last letters:

_gone friday don't let anyone else trap you_

Ah. Kid wasn't supposed to know that Hakuba was going to miss the heist. This was the detective's way of formally bowing out of the heist so that Kid wouldn't track him down and demand to know why he'd skipped out. It was good thinking, since Hakuba didn't have the Kaitou Kid's contact information to otherwise let him know. Since Kid had accepted challenges made by Suzuki Jirokichi via newspaper, it was reasonable to guess that Kid regularly read the paper.

Kaito turned on the computer in the Kid room before he'd even put his backpack down after school. He logged onto the Kid forum and opened a chat box. \Afternoon, Sono-chan! How fare the party preparations?/

Kaito left to get a snack from the kitchen, and when he returned there was a response waiting for him: \Ah, Katsuki-kun!/ It was safer to continue with a pseudonym in online media in case anyone ever came across the chat history. It would be hard for Sonoko to talk her way out of trouble if she called her correspondent "Kid" outright. This way, she could claim Katsuki did some Kid roleplay but that she didn't actually believe he was the real thief. \The caterers are all lined up, and practically everyone who hadn't responded before the notice was published replied that they're coming. ^_^ If I hadn't paid for the space already, I think Nakamori-keibu would have made the museum cancel on me/

\Timing in life is everything, I've been told. "Cancelled." Haha. The absolute nerve of some people :P/

\Oh I KNOW! Will I get to see you on Friday before the heist, my charming dove?/

\Sono-chan! You know how that name makes me blush!/

\Which part do you object to? You can't deny your ability to attract people – I have a zillion Kid fans as proof. And of course you couldn't disagree with the idea that you take to the skies./

\You have a talent for hyperbole, my dear./

\I prefer the term "poetry"./

Kaito laughed. \Hmm. You have asked attendees to come in costume, correct?/

\OF COURSE. I CAN'T WAIT. You're bringing my wings over tomorrow, right?/

\No promises that it will be tomorrow, but you will be the loveliest angel to grace the party, I assure you./ Kaito glanced over at the twin feathered contraptions made during short spurts of spare time over the past few weeks.

\Thank you!/

\Anytime, darling. But these wings do NOT have a hang glider concealed in them, be warned./

\Ha. I'll try not to jump out of any windows./

\Excellent. I might stop by while you're out, depending on other factors, so if not tomorrow, I'll certainly see you Friday. Until then~ :)/

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"S'il vous plait?"

"Renee, why on Earth would asking me in French change my mind after the last thirty-seven times you've asked? No."

Saguru rubbed at his temples in an attempt to ward of the impending headache. A couple of days ago Renee's flight had landed at Heathrow Airport just before his and they'd shared a ride to the Reynolds's Estate. Apparently his "cosplaying" as her in Tokyo brought them closer as family and made them the best of pals. She'd enjoyed the selfie pictures he'd taken on her phone – which were unfortunately badly composed and hardly showed any of his gender-swap guise (so they couldn't count as proof for his challenge). And when hearing his account of how his day out as her had gone, she'd made him go into excruciating detail over every little thing in case she ever went to Japan and ran into Hattori and the others and needed to maintain Saguru's cover story. Since then he'd hardly had more than a moment's peace without her presence as she pestered him over what he was to wear to his mother's charity event, suggesting themed costumes they could wear together, each one more ridiculous than the last. Her most recent suggestion was to dress up as identical twin characters. A theme as to what kind of twins hadn't been decided yet, aside from the fact that it would involve Saguru dressing up as a woman again.

"Aww," Renee pouted. "But it would be so much fun! And your mum would never see it coming."

"That's because I have refused to go along with such idiocies in the past."

"But you pretended to be me for a day in Tokyo! I don't see why we can't be twins for the party."

"That particular event was an extenuating circumstance. Also, I don't want to give my mother any ideas and you've _sworn_ on your honor as a lady that you wouldn't tell anyone. And I mean _anyone,_ Renee."

"Relax, Jamie. I'm not going to tell Aunty Lizzy about your day of cross-dressing. You threatened to stop helping me with my cosplays if I did, and I _really _need your help with my Victorian Steam Punk ensemble."

Saguru shook his head, again questioning his European relations' sanity. Ignoring Renee for the moment as she chattered for the hundredth time of what she wanted her cosplay costume to look like for some convention coming up in November, Saguru returned to the task he'd been appointed to by his mother.

So far he'd had to scrap a lot of the designs that the hired costume and makeup designers had come up with for the charity event. His mother had been very clear that this was to be a charity event fundraising for children's education and that the theme was haunted fairytale stories. Most costume designs had been either too bloody and gory or too pretty and cute. The bunch that was hired had talent, that was for sure, but he doubted many of them had worked on a team and on a project of this scale before. When he'd first arrived he'd challenged them to pick a favorite fairytale character from their childhood and to warp that character as if they'd been twisted by the realities of Wonderland. Why Wonderland? Because when one referenced Tim Burton's variation on the popular children's story it could be as dark as it was whimsical, exactly what his mother was looking for.

Saguru supervised the development of these designs and after OK-ing them for fabrication, the artists got to work. He was surprised that none of them appeared to resent him for being younger than them or for the fact that he had been put in charge. Rather, they seemed to appreciate his input and often sought his advice on some aspects of their make-ups. But it probably had more to do with the fact that he was the elite fashion and make-up designer, Elizabeth Reynolds's only son. He'd grown up around the industry and was very knowledgeable about fashion, fabrics, costuming, make-up and how it was applied. Simply knowing fashion and make-up tips could, however, put him in a gay stereotype. He would rather do without that stigma on top of everything else. Saguru was not homosexual – he liked men _and_ women, thank you very much – but all the same, he had done his best to hide this aspect of his life while living in Japan with his father.

While the designers were working on their projects Saguru himself was sculpting facial prosthetics for Mad Hatter and March Hare costumes. "You know, you're really good at that," Renee mused as she studied the two sculptures and three others that were set aside, ready for molding: the Red Queen, White Rabbit, and a flower fairy. "You should be a special effects make-up artist and work on movies like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or something, instead of being a detective."

"Who says I can't do both?" Saguru asked offhandedly. "Mum ropes me into her projects no matter where I am and what I'm doing anyway."

"That's not the same as making your own career out of it," Renee sighed. "I'm sure with your talent, you'd be much more successful as a make-up artist than your are as a detective."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, _cousin_," Saguru said coldly.

"Sorry. But aren't you only doing detective work to impress your father? You've never been able to see or spend much of him even though you live with him now, right?" Saguru didn't even deign that comment with a reply.

"…So what are you going to dress up as at the party?" Renee asked, quickly switching gears.

"Not your twin, that's for sure," Saguru scoffed, etching some details into the nose of the March Hare.

"Fine then. …Oh! I know! Be Legolas! And I can be Tauriel from the Hobbit movies!"

"Why do you want to coordinate costumes?" Saguru sighed.

"Because it's more fun this way," Renee pouted. "Please, Jamie?"

Saguru didn't answer, tweaking the nose and smoothing out the shape of the brow on the Mad Hatter. He supposed that he could. Dressing up as Legolas and Tauriel from the Hobbit movies was a much better option then all of the other costume suggestions that Renee had come up with before. The idea of dressing up as an elf reminded him of his conversation with Kuroba.

_"__If you had to be a mythological creature, what would you be?"_

A small smile quirked at the corners of his lips.

"Please? Please, Jamie? SJ? James? Sagaroo? Sa-chan?"

"…Fine."

"Woo hoo!"

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

Kaito grinned like a fool as he fastened the monocle over his eye, and the thief in the mirror grinned back. "Ready?" he asked. Kaito checked the door one more time to make sure no one else could get into the public restroom, and switched on the camera that he'd glued to an old earring post. He'd carefully wiggled it into the hole that had been closing up in his left ear.

Waving at the mirror, Kaito began: "Good evening. As you can see –" he said to Hakuba, who would be reviewing the video afterwards "– I am in full costume. As per the parameters of our challenge, I am allowed to disguise myself until I reach twenty meters of the Mori Art Museum. I will leave the camera on and inform you when we – excuse me, _I_ – reach that point. Sound good?" Knowing that Hakuba couldn't answer him, Kaito smiled brightly. He slipped on a jacket and a pair of dark pants and unlocked the door to the restroom. Kaito took off the top hat and held it casually under one arm, tucking the monocle inside it as he left the gas station. He'd planned to start the video in a public place so that Hakuba wouldn't try to track his movements and figure out where he lived. Kaito slipped on a black baseball cap with the brim turned back and slung a backpack over his shoulder to look more like a student. Even though it was rather late for a student to be returning from classes or the library on a Friday.

Kids in small hordes passed by in costumes, babbling playfully and swinging half-full candy buckets. Even their grownups were lively tonight, stopping to compliment other children on cute or clever costumes. The young adults who were too old to trick-or-treat still made use of the opportunity for cosplay, and Kaito winked playfully at a faction of cat ladies. One of the girls giggled and Kaito produced a yellow rose for her.

"You look lovely, Neko-chan." She brightened at the compliment. Peripherally, Kaito noticed her friends stop walking a few steps after she did.

"Who are you supposed to be?" she asked.

"Ah." Perfect timing. Kaito donned the top hat and monocle and removed the dark coat with a flourish, revealing the white jacket and cape hidden underneath. "I am but a phantom thief, captivated by a jewel like you."

The girl blushed. "You're not wearing the white pants," she murmured, looking off to the side shyly. "Haven't you ever seen Kid on TV?"

Kaito laughed. "I've got white pants on under these, but I didn't think you'd take too kindly to me stripping out of my pants in the middle of the street. I mean, I don't even know your name, Neko-chan."

Her face reddened further. One of her friends, a black cat with tall boots and a layered skirt, spoke up. "Minako-chan may not be comfortable with it, but I wouldn't mind watching." She eyed him like a cat that had cornered a mouse.

Kaito dropped a smoke bomb and stowed away the pieces of his darker disguise. He bowed when the smoke cleared. "How did I do? Was that like Kid's tricks?"

The girl called Minako clapped. "That was great!"

"Thank you, my lady." He took her hand a laid a kiss on it. Then, turning towards the second girl: "I notice that you are wearing all black, Neko-chan. Would you happen to be Chat Noir this evening? I have always assumed that the French cat burglar was a man, but you would be a beautiful rival for the Kaitou Kid." No one was supposed to know that Chat Noir was a woman, and Hakuba wouldn't hear it from Kid.

"I wasn't planning on it, but I guess I could be. Are you worried about having a rival?"

Kaito thought of his classmate, who was out of the country, and the grade-school detective, who was probably out getting candy with the Detective Boys. "Not tonight. Have a wonderfully spooky Halloween evening." He tipped his hat to them and continued towards the Mori Art Museum.

Tilting his head down so the camera would record the white attire, he murmured, "As you can see, I'm not disguised any longer. I'm a little early, but it doesn't much matter at the moment." In full Kid regalia, Kaito walked the last few blocks to the heist location. A few people stopped him to talk about how he'd put together the costume, and he directed them to a shop that sold fabulous top hats in a variety of colors.

As he approached the building, he made a show of pulling an invitation out of his backpack and handing it to the two police officers manning the main entrance. There was a moment where the pair glared at him for his choice of costume, but overall they seemed resigned. "That makes eight tonight," the first muttered to his partner.

The second one replied, "I'd hate to be up in the gallery right now. Nakamori-keibu must be furious at all the Kaitou Kids walking around." Kaito bit back a smile. It was just as he had expected. Given Sonoko's influence with the fan base and that her guests knew there was going to be a heist the night of the party, of course a host of Kid cosplayers would show up.

"Is it safe?" Kaito asked with affected nervousness as the officer handed him back the invitation. "I don't want to be arrested for attending Suzuki-san's costume party."

"Oh, he tried to arrest the first two, but after it became clear that there were going to be a handful of imitations sauntering around, he gave up and decided to bide his time until the heist officially begins."

"That makes sense," Kaito answered mildly. "Besides, Kid's probably going to come in by window or something with his hang glider, since it's near the top of the building. I couldn't imagine him just walking through the front door." Kaito couldn't decide whether he thought Hakuba was going to have a conniption when he watched this video or remain perfectly blank-faced the entire time. Either way, Kaito wanted to sit there and watch his reaction, which would undoubtedly be fascinating.

"Right. Go on up, then." Kaito nodded and waved to the other folks walking around the first floor until he reached the elevator. One of the officers passing by with a building security team waved back before remembering why he was there. Kaito grinned.

This was going to be the easiest damn heist he'd ever pulled.

He got into the elevator with a foreign-looking group in their twenties who had known Sonoko's family forever. One woman was dressed in a red and black jester's costume and her husband wore purple and had used temporary dye to make his hair green. The other three claimed to be space cowboys after he asked, but he hadn't heard of the single-season American TV show that their characters had come from. When the elevator opened, Kaito bid farewell to Harley Quinn and the Joker as well as Mal, Zoe, and Wash.

The gallery space was glitzed out in the over-the-top manner that he expected of Sonoko. She'd gotten gauzy spider webs and candelabras placed around the room in the short time between the museum's official closing and the time the party started, and there were sparkles everywhere that the museum hadn't marked as off-limits. Jack-o-lanterns sat on every surface, candles flickering inside. Everything was draped in purple, black, and green, and it was _perfect_ for Halloween. In the adjoining room, a space that the museum currently used for meetings and presentations because of the small stage available, there was a band playing music with a good tempo for dancing. Along one wall there were tables with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, and there were circular tables and chairs scattered throughout the room. The room smelled like pumpkin spice and apple cider.

Kaito took a few minutes to chat up one of the Kaitou Kid cosplayers and got himself invited to his own fan club. Kaito tried not to burst out laughing after the fake Kid had moved on, but a few breathy chuckles slipped out. This was so much fun. He might record another heist sometime, if only to see Hakuba's reactions to it. Finally, he found the hostess, who was sipping some purple drink and chattering loudly with another girl Kaito didn't recognize. Sonoko had on the wings that Kaito had made for her, a headpiece made of silver tinsel, and a white dress that showed off just enough of her legs to walk the border between cute and sexy.

"Suzuki-san," Kaito began during a break in the conversation. "Good evening. I'm the 'plus one' for one of your guests, but my date seems to have wandered off. Would you care to join me for a dance?"

Sonoko's smile almost split her face. "Of course! I'd love to!" She hurriedly set down the drink and excused herself.

Kaito took her hand and led her towards the open area near the band that had been designated as the dance floor. "My name is Akiyama Asahi, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you, Suzuki-san." He could practically hear Hakuba rolling his eyes at the name choice. One set of kanji used for Asahi meant "morning sun" and Kid was here to steal the Sun-drop Topaz. Heh. "Is swing dance alright?"

"Yeah, swing is fine, and it's nice to meet you too, Akiyama-san. Neat earring, by the way." She nodded at the half-sphere that covered up the inner workings of the camera.

Kaito laughed as he slipped his free hand around her waist. "I worked so hard to put together an authentic-looking Kaitou Kid cosplay, with the monocle, top hat, cape, and everything, and you like the earring? You're something else, Suzuki-san." To be fair, Sonoko saw the full costume on a semi-regular basis, so it was nothing special, but tonight they weren't supposed to know each other.

Sonoko giggled as he spun her around. "Sorry about that. Would you be appeased if I said you look dashing this evening?"

"Only if you meant it, lovely. And you are looking quite dapper as well. You play the part of an angel nicely."

"Angel?" Sonoko questioned slyly. "What makes you think I'm not a female Kaitou Kid? If I put on your hat and monocle, I'd be all set."

"Those wings don't look much like a hang glider."

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't go leaping out of tall buildings, then," she smiled, echoing their last conversation.

Kaito winked. "Mm, that _would_ be inadvisable. Do you think Kid will really come for the gem this evening, Suzuki-san?"

"I have no doubt about it. Kid-sama always comes once he's given a notice. He'll be here."

"You're probably right. How could a phantom resist an appearance on the most haunted night of the year?"

After a few more dances with Sonoko, Kaito let her return to her hosting duties and invited other guests to the dance floor. He waltzed with two youkai and Frankenstein's monster, and the skinny pumpkin girl abandoned formal dance patterns in order to be spun in circles until the end of the song. The guest in the Britannian Knightmare costume was too unbalanced to do any serious dancing, but Kaito did the robot with her. Or him. It was hard to tell with the helmet and bulky armor. He overheard a conversation about time travel and eventually dragged the Tenth Doctor onto the dance floor as well.

Kaito checked his watch at two minutes to midnight and began making his way over towards the jewel display. He moved subtly, of course, because Nakamori-keibu was wound tighter than Hakuba's pocket watch at the moment. At forty seconds until 12:00 he clicked a button in his pocket and the power cut out. Kaito tossed smoke bombs in the direction of the display stand that held the Sun-drop Topaz.

Once he was practically invisible in the smoke and dark, the magician jogged right through the circle of distracted task force officers. With another click, the power was restored. "_Ladies and Gentleman_," Kaito shouted in English. All attention turned to him as the air cleared. He felt Kid's razor smile overtake his poker face and his nerves settled. There was so much excited energy pumping through him right now that another round of rooftop gymnastics would be called for later.

Gods, if this was how Hakuba made him feel all the time with challenges, Kaito would never stop.

Switching back to Japanese, he began: "I wish a Happy Halloween to all Division Two officers and my fellow guests. Tonight I have something special in store for all of you, something… _spooky_."

"Arrest him," Nakamori bellowed, and the task force officers charged from all directions.

Unworried, Kaito continued, "Halloween is not for the faint of heart. The dead return to life, monsters cross into our world, and even the most innocent of things can give us the fright of our lives." The jack-o-lanterns around the room, which had been left at the museum anonymously for Suzuki Sonoko's party and had no cuts around the top to indicate how the insides had been removed, seemed to come to life. The carved pumpkins appeared to sprout legs and crawl around, skittering like mice. They bumped into each other and into people and objects in their path, following no discernable order.

There were screams of fear and surprise as some guests climbed on the chairs and some of the officers tried to stomp on the pumpkins. Kaito went to work on the jewel's display case. He'd loosened the seal between the glass covering and the base earlier this week, and with one strong tug it lifted off like it was nothing more than a cup flipped over on a table. He stowed the topaz in a deep pocket and turned back to the show, mission accomplished. The coffin propped up in one corner opened when he manipulated the strings attached to it, plastic skulls rained in the presentation room, and eerie music played over the museum's speakers.

Nakamori and his men had realized that the crawling pumpkins weren't a genuine harm to anyone and recovered some semblance of order. They organized themselves again to charge, and Kaito produced more smoke. In cover of the fog, Kaito drew out an armful of white capes and nimbly attached them to the backs of the task force members. Officers would see a white cape and grab at it, believing it to be Kid, which would distract them from the real Kid and hinder their teammates in the process.

With his mischief managed, the magician sprinted for the low vent in one corner of the room. Ducking down, Kaito popped the cover out of its frame and wriggled inside. After replacing it, he squirmed through to the next floor down where he knew there were a set of windows that opened. From there he snapped open the hang glider and launched himself out into the wide, empty space.

He'd gotten some much-needed excitement and dancing in, obtained the jewel, and escaped without notice. Oh, and Snake's men hadn't showed up. It was the perfect night to be a trickster.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

"Just sit still for a few more seconds," Saguru huffed as he applied the final touches of Renee's makeup on her elf ears. She made a beautiful Tauriel.

Saguru himself was already in complete costume. They both looked like they'd come right off the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit sets. He had to admit that Renee had done a wonderful job picking out the fabrics for their costumes and distressing them so that they looked authentic. His distant cousin knew what she wanted and how to go about getting it. It was just the tiny details and final touches she had trouble with, something that Saguru was rather particular about and the main reason he was consulted when she designed and fabricated her cosplays.

"Done."

"_Finally_," Renee huffed as she got up from the makeup chair and checked herself in the mirror. "Oh my gosh! I look just like her!"

"If only a little shorter in stature and rounder in the face," Saguru muttered under his breath.

"And you look absolutely fantastic, Jamie," she smiled. "Those swords are a nice touch. They're real aren't they?"

"Had them custom made a few years back," Saguru grinned. "And yes, they are real, but blunted for safety reasons. I usually hang them on the wall in my room."

"Right between your map of Middle Earth and your collection of vintage Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie posters no doubt, you big nerd," Renee snickered. "Oh, I'm sorry. I think the correct term is otaku."

Saguru leveled an unamused look at her before she wrapped her arm around his and dragged him off to the front hall. They needed to get to the venue tonight and oversee the application of the costumes on the models that would be wearing them for the charity event.

While Saguru was helping to apply finishing touches on some of the makeups his mother appeared. She was dressed in her normal navy business dress suit, long wavy blond hair tied up in an elegant bun, and sapphire eyes shining much like Saguru's did when a case had come together or he was on the verge of catching Kid. They shared the same high cheekbone structure and slim figure. When standing besides each other there was no doubt that they were mother and son, unlike when Saguru stood beside his father and there was hardly any family resemblance to be found at all.

"Oh, Jamie! Everything looks fantastic!" his mother cooed, squealing happily over some of the costumes.

"Thank you," Saguru smiled. "Everyone's worked so hard to pull this together. I'm sure your party will be a huge success."

"With all you've managed to pull off, I have no doubts. Especially with the Hobbit skit. And oh look, you're even in costume already."

"Hobbit skit?" Saguru frowned.

"Oh, didn't Renee tell you? You two are going to perform with some actors that river scene from the Desolation of Smaug! Oh it'll be fantastic!"

"No, she didn't," Saguru glared at Renee who at least had the decency to look sheepish.

"Sorry, but not sorry," she giggled nervously. "Oh, come on, Jamie! It'll be fun!"

"When the hell did you two cook this up?" he demanded crossing his arms.

"…After you agreed to help with the event?" She smiled nervously.

"That was little over a week ago!"

"Like you don't remember every fight routine in those movies," Renee protested. "And I know that your bow and those arrows are more that just costume props. You're a stickler for authenticity in every aspect of your life, so I know you can shoot with them. Now come on, we've got to have a few practice run-throughs." She grabbed his arm again and dragged him off towards the hall where the charity event was taking place.

"Mum!"

"Oh go along darling, I'm sure it'll be spectacular. The actors are already in their costumes and make up."

"You can't be serious!"

"Like a heart attack," his mother replied smugly. "Sir Ian McClellan will be introducing the fight routine himself. He'll be dressing as Gandalf of course and I'm sure he'll take a few pictures with you and sign an autograph or two. He's really a delightful man." Saguru had nothing to say to that. Ian McClellan was one of his favorite actors and meeting him would be worth putting up with these shenanigans. His mother better not be lying.

While Saguru spent the remainder of the time before the party working out choreography, he couldn't help but wonder how Kid's heist was going. He had gotten his invitation from Suzuki Sonoko weeks ago for her Halloween party, but sadly had to turn down her invitation after he'd gotten the call from his mother. Sonoko had made him promise to attend the next one. After Kid's notice was announced and it was deduced that he'd be crashing her party, she promised to fill him in on the Halloween heist. He was sure that Kid had had a ball with his heist and that Sonoko would be enjoying every moment of it. It should have occurred by now in Japan.

Finally at seven o'clock guests started to arrive and it wasn't long before the great hall was filled with guests both distinguished and common. Many children from local orphanages and schools filled the room as well, enjoying the games and areas set up for them and their chaperones. Renee was stuck to his side like glue, soaking in the atmosphere and showing off her Tauriel cosplay whenever possible. Saguru played along for the most part, enjoying children's reactions. At one point there was even a little boy who was also dressed as Legolas. He had come up to him with suspicious narrowed eyes and spoke to him.

"Are you really Legolas?" the boy demanded.

Before Saguru could respond, however, Renee had grabbed and tugged on his arm. "It's time, Legolas," she said, referring to their choreographed fight.

"_Boe i 'wên. Nover,_" he said to the boy with a small bow. _I must go. Farewell._ Little Legolas brightened upon hearing the elvish words and smiled, waving.

"You are such a nerd," Renee huffed. "I can't believe you can speak Elvish."

"Only a little," Saguru shrugged.

"Enough to hold a conversation."

"Oh, so ten or twelve phrases are enough to hold a conversation by your standards?"

"Shut up and get into position, Elf Prince."

Saguru was excited to find out that his mother hadn't been lying when she said that Ian McClellan would be introducing their stunt show performance. The performance itself went better than he'd thought. The choreography had him and Renee bouncing from raised platform to platform over guests' and actors' heads shooting arrows and flashing their swords as they fought "orcs" while wheeled barrels filled with "dwarves" rolled through roped off sections from the crowd that made up the river and made their way through the room. Children squealed and shouted in excitement as they stood atop tables and sat on the shoulders of adults to have a better look.

Saguru didn't want to admit it, but he was having a lot of fun. He could understand now why Kid turned many of his heists into shows for his fans. The cheers of the crowd gave him a high he'd never experienced before and just seeing the awed looks of the children made him want to break character and smile.

When the show came to an end the whole room was filled with cheers. It was time for the children to return home. Saguru and Renee were asked to sign many autographs before the adult portion of the evening started. He saw the Legolas kid again and signed his bow.

"_No gelin a velthin idh raideg_," he told him.

He was surprised when the kid lunged forward and hugged him before hurrying off with his parents.

"Aww. That was so sweet. What did you say to him?"

"May your ways be green and golden."

"Nerd."

Saguru snorted. "This from the one who twisted my arm into doing this. You made those ridiculous costume suggestions on purpose, didn't you? Just so that I'd agree once you suggested something more reasonable."

"So what if I did? You know you enjoyed it. That smile you've been wearing for the last half hour says so. You need to loosen up more. You'd be an even bigger hit with the ladies if you smiled like that more often."

Saguru rolled his eyes, but he couldn't lose the smile. He was reminded once again of a certain trickster magician who also thought that he should lighten up. Looking around at the party and the models in costume serving food and drinks, or simply acting out their characters for the amusement of the remaining guests, Saguru couldn't help but think that maybe Renee and Kuroba had a point.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

MG: Aw yeah! That's chapter 6! Kaito had a blast. Did you recognize all the characters at the Halloween party? Aside from the obvious Doctor Who and Batman references, there were some Firefly cosplayers and a Knightmare from Code Geass. And Kaito went to the heist as himself, haha. My thought process for coming up with challenges for him goes something like "Gosh, what kind of heist would be really effing hard to plan and write?" and then after we decide on something Kaito goes "Actually, that's pretty easy" and makes something like the Disguise Challenge (or, the Lack of Disguise Challenge, in his case) look like a piece of cake. Fingers crossed that this keeps up. I'm glad Sonoko and Kid got to hang out again too; they're just ridiculous and I love them. Also, I really like that Saguru ended up being a LOTR dork, SR ;)

SR: Yeah, well he IS a teenager and grew up in London, so I imagined that he'd be a big Tolkien fan, especially after the movies came out (what with how we've established him and his mother being big movie fans in general). He is also more than likely a closet Doctor Who fanatic as well and probably has the Fourth Doctor's scarf somewhere in his closet (which the nerd probably crocheted himself - he does NOT knit, people, there is a distinction) along with all current models - old and new - of the sonic screw driver. Coming from two rich families he can afford to buy all the fun toys and design and create the cosplays we wish we could have (like his inverness coat/cape). We talked about this earlier, MG, but everyone associates Hakuba with Sherlock Holmes just as much as they do Kudo Shinichi, but Hakuba never does the nerdy quoting and out right fan-boying that Shinichi does over Doyle and Holmes. All he does is wear the inverness coat/cape and cap (cosplay!). I think behind Hakuba's polite and proper attitude lies a fellow teenage fanboy who adores many fandoms, though he probably sticks more to the classics, like Classic Who, the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films, Lord of the Rings, and of course classic Disney films. But that's just my interpretation, and thus why Hakuba may seem so OC to you guys. I hope this explanation clears up some of the aspects of his character that have come forth in these last two chapters. Hakuba is an otaku of various interests just like me and you. ;)

MG: I'm glad we got to make Saguru a fuller character, and it's great discovering things about him along the way. In Kaito's case, I had no idea that he had his ears pierced until I was literally writing the sentence where he turned the camera on. It makes sense, though, if he spends lots of time in female disguises.

SR: It is fun figuring out your characters as you go along; canon and OC alike. Renee was a joy to write and I can only wish that Hakuba's mother got more screen time, but she just didn't want to step in and steal the spotlight from her son and sort-of-niece, the fickle lady. Don't worry though. She's bound to show herself again sooner or later. This chapter was rather interesting to write though because we didn't have our two main characters interacting, though they're certainly missing each other. ;) Thanks for reading and please review! Any and all comments are useful, especially if you have ideas for what kind of challenges you'd like to see our detective and thief perform next!


	7. The Disguise Challenge (Part 4)

_SAGURU_

"Hakuba-nii-san! Akako-nee-chan!" Saguru and Akako smiled as they entered Yamaguchi Ryouichi's room at Tokyo University Hospital and were greeted by Kyou and her father.

"Hello, Kyou-chan," Saguru smiled, crouching down to her level before sliding his bag off his shoulder. "It's good to see you again."

Kyou beamed, surprising Saguru with a hug. "Akako-nee-chan told me you went to London to see your mommy. How is she? Did you have fun in London? Did you get to dress up for Halloween? What did you go as?" Saguru laughed as she launched one question after another.

"Kyou, one question at a time," her father scolded, but he was smiling. It was good to see him conscious. He had only been awake a couple of times in the past when Saguru had come by to visit over the last month.

"It's alright, Yamaguchi-san. My mother is quite well, Kyou-chan, thank you, and I dressed up as Legolas, an elf, for Halloween."

"Do you have pictures?!" Kyou asked.

"Do you?" Akako echoed with a sly smile and a gleam in her eye.

"Unfortunately I don't have any on me at the moment. I'll have to bring one next time." Kyou pouted. "I do, however, have a gift for a certain little girl," Saguru said, smiling at how fast Kyou perked up. He reached into the bag he'd brought and pulled out a wrapped package, handing it over to Kyou.

The little girl tore open the top of the wrapping and squealed in delight at the sight of English candies such as Turkish Delights, Jelly Babies, and an assortment of Aero chocolate bars. There were also a couple of children's fairytale books. They were in English, of course, but the illustrations were gorgeous and Saguru had taken the time during his long flight back to Japan to carefully pen in a hiragana translation of the tales beneath the English text for Kyou to read. His flight had landed only a few hours ago in the early afternoon, where Akako had met him at the terminal gate with his housekeeper, Baaya. Apparently the girl had no qualms about skipping her afternoon classes. Saguru had passed his luggage on to Baaya before leaving to catch a train to Ueno.

"Thank you!" Kyou squealed happily, hugging him again before rushing over to show her father what Saguru had given her.

"Speaking of gifts, did you get what I requested?" Akako asked while the little girl and her father looked over the books and various candies.

"I did," Saguru nodded. "They're in the gift bag I put together for you."

"You shouldn't have," Akako cooed.

"Oh?" Saguru mused, smiling at his friend. "Well, I suppose if you don't want anything more than what you asked for, I'll just have to split your goodies between Kuroba and Aoko-kun's gift bags then."

"Don't you dare," Akako said, feigning disproval. "I want to see what you brought me back from London."

"Besides what you asked for?"

"Yes, you fool," Akako huffed childishly, batting at his arm.

"I'll give it to you tomorrow," Saguru promised. "Or if you want it that badly, you're more than welcome to come over to get it. I have it in my suitcase."

"That would probably be best," Akako frowned, lowering her voice to a low murmur. They both watched as the elder Yamaguchi slouched in his bed, tired and sleepy again. "Yamaguchi-san is weakening. I would like to have what you purchased for me as soon as possible. I also don't want either of us to have to carry them around the school."

"Kuroba?"

"Kuroba."

"Damn nuisance can't keep his sticky fingers out of other people's bags."

"Oh, it's not my bag I'm worried about him looking through. It's yours." Akako smirked. "I'd rather not have him rifling through things he needn't concern himself with."

"That and it'd raise so many bothersome questions neither of us would want to answer," Saguru sighed.

"Again, it's not me that would be bothered." Saguru shot her a baleful glare but she only smiled cheekily and wandered over to the two Yamaguchis, offering to take Kyou out to Ueno Park. It was only a 14 minute (and 35.12 second) walk from the hospital and would allow Yamaguchi-san to get some more rest while giving his daughter an opportunity to be outside and play. Apparently, Akako had visited a few times on her own since they'd both come by with Kuroba that first time and had already taken Kyou out on a few similar trips.

Saguru watched in amusement as his usually collected and sophisticated friend chatted gaily with the six year old and the two hopped from one stripe to the next on the crosswalk. They even got him to join in and Saguru found himself having a grand time with the two girls. They decided to explore the zoo section of Ueno Park that afternoon, seeing all of the animals and as many of the attractions as they could. Saguru found himself blushing, however, when an elderly lady commented on what a nice young family the three of them were. Akako didn't help things when she latched onto his arm and said, "Come on, dear, we want to go see the monkeys." Kyou even got in on it and tugged on his other arm saying, "Let's go, Daddy! Let's go!" Once they were far enough from the elderly woman, Akako and Kyou couldn't stop laughing. Saguru eventually found himself chuckling as well – not at the situation, but at the sight of the two girls doubled over laughing to the point of tears.

When Saguru and Akako arrived back in Ekoda later, Saguru invited his friend over. While Baaya prepared dinner, the two of them retired to the lounge. He gave her the promised package and after a few minutes of her marveling over the English candies and a necklace he'd selected for her, Akako focused on the second part of her parcel. It was a paper bag filled with dried roots, little bags of seeds, and crushed herbs from an old apothecary in London.

It had taken a long hour going up and down the same street before finally locating the little hole-in-the-wall shop. The shopkeeper had been an elderly spinster woman in long, flowing robes that had dwarfed her figure. When he'd walked into her store she'd looked up in surprise, as if she'd never seen a customer before. She had been very eager to help him and offered him deals on all sorts of powders and crushed minerals and cleansing stones.

When Saguru told Akako about his experience at the store, she laughed and explained, "You're probably the first normal to have ever entered her shop. Most places like that are warded and invisible to people without a magical lineage. You wore the omamori that Kyou-chan gave you, I trust?"

"Yes…"

"The woman could tell you didn't have magic, but felt the charm and that's what excited her. I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to find the shop without a guide, but wearing the charm helped. Spending time with Kyou-chan and I probably facilitated it as well. My own magic is probably rubbing off on you and allowing you to see things that you couldn't ordinarily see. You may have started noticing strange things during your trip home after visiting the apothecary."

Saguru was a little unnerved by that bit of news. "So what are those herbs for, anyway? And why did they have to be from London?" Saguru asked, changing the subject.

Akako allowed the dismissal of the uncomfortable subject and took up the new topic without further comment. "They didn't have to be from London, per se," she admitted, "but I know for a fact that most of these items come imported from Ireland, one of the few countries still imbued with its original, natural magic. It hosts the most magical gatherings in the world because its lands have remained sacred, mostly because they've become tourist traps. That's beside the point, though. It's so much cheaper to get these things from London than to have them imported all the way to Japan. My usual herbologist has raised her prices as of late so I've been boycotting her shop and making do elsewhere, but these particular ingredients need to be relatively fresh. Unfortunately, most of the herbs imported from Europe take weeks or months to arrive. It was much easier and quicker to have you pick them up while you were home in London. I hope you don't mind."

"I don't, but, again, what are they for?" Saguru asked.

"A spell to counteract the traces of evil the kappa left on Yamaguchi-san," Akako frowned. "It's meant to purify and cleanse his aura and should help him finally recover from his attack. Not many survive a kappa attack, but the few who do usually die soon after. Yamaguchi-san is barely hanging on as it is. Modern science has created medicine that healed the body, so Yamaguchi-san may appear well, but his soul is tainted and rotting."

Saguru nodded. His logical side didn't quite understand what she was telling him about kappas and evil auras, but he could at least grasp the concept that Mr. Yamaguchi was spiritually sick, so he required a spiritual cure to get better. "Will it work?" Saguru asked.

"For Kyou-chan's sake, I hope so," Akako replied softly.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

Kaito had finished his homework hours ago and was still looking for something to do. He hadn't been particularly inspired to write the next heist note, even though he wanted to hold another one soon to hand over his proof to the detective. Why had Hakuba gone to England, anyway? It was so last minute. He just _had_ to miss the Halloween heist, which Kaito had taken special care in planning.

Ah. That French cousin of his had arrived in London the same day. Perhaps her social media could enlighten Kaito as to what Hakuba and company had been up to halfway around the world. He opened the browser on his computer in the Kid room and found her Facebook again. Benoit Renee posted a multitude of photographs – both clear, professional shots and pictures clearly taken with a phone camera – under two albums called Halloween Charity Ball! Part I and Part II. In Part I, Kaito clicked through the sharp, well-composed photos of strangers in costumes that looked like fairy tale characters gone spooky. Appropriate for Halloween. The second album featured Renee in costume as an elf girl, most of the time standing arm in arm with another elf who was Legolas _and most definitely Hakuba Saguru._ "Wow," he croaked, staring at the first photo with both of them. It had taken Kaito a moment to recognize his classmate through the elf costume and huge smile that wasn't generally seen on the detective. Shit, Hakuba even had twin swords, and they looked real. _Awesome_.

Kaito kept clicking through the album and Renee's descriptions to the right of the photos helped him put together an idea of what happened: "Jamie's finishing up my costume, aww yeah." "My cousin and I, dressed as Legolas and Tauriel for Aunt Lizzy's charity ball." "Elf Prince is being a dork in this pic because the 'real' Gandalf is here, lol." "Group shot of the actors after the Hobbit skit." "If Jamie had a Facebook, he'd kill me for putting this one up." That last one was a shot of Hakuba making a face at someone slightly to the left of the camera, probably Renee. He looked absolutely ridiculous, given that elves were generally composed and not expressive, but Kaito couldn't help feeling that Hakuba looked a little bit adorable when he wasn't being a stuffy detective.

Well, maybe "adorable" was too strong a word. Kaito was probably just feeling charitable because he wanted the blonde to come to the next heist. Mmm, yes, that was it. Really, it wouldn't do for Hakuba to skip again just because he didn't have proof of completing the disguise challenge. Kid wouldn't let him off that easily if the detective suddenly decided to stop issuing notices for their clandestine meetings. Hmm. He might have to hold a Lord of the Rings themed heist so Hakuba would remember that Kid was keeping an eye on him. Wouldn't want Hakuba to think he could just leave and chase another thief on the other side of the world or something, as if Kid wouldn't _know_ what he was up to.

Ah! Kaito sat bolt upright as he remembered one item from his to-steal list and thought that a LOTR heist (or at least a few obvious references dropped) sounded like a perfect idea for Kid's next show. He consulted his master sketchbook for more information about this particular jewel and opened up another tab on the browser to begin his research.

Six hours later, with preliminary research and an initial visit to the heist site under his belt, Kaito had a heist note:

_The history of style in a tasteful fashion_

_An assortment of costumes collected with passion._

_This kaitou twice wishes for something small_

_Because there's only one ring to rule them all._

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

SAGURU

Saguru was having a very busy week. Kid had issued a new heist note within the last few days and that had the Task Force in another tizzy. Between attending school and various task force meetings Saguru welcomed a break, even one that came in the form of one Suzuki Sonoko.

The two of them had known each other since childhood due to their families' similar social circles, but after his parents had divorced and he moved to London with his mother, they didn't see much of each other unless he was visiting Japan or she was visiting Europe to attend some other high society event. It hadn't been until he moved back to Japan to live with his father that they'd begun to see each other more often and actually become friends. There had been issues at the beginning of their friendship when Saguru had joined the Kid Task Force. Being a major fan, Sonoko had taken offense and refused to speak to him for weeks. When Kid targeted her family's Black Star pearl, she had asked Detective Mouri for help instead.

Honestly, the whole thing had been ridiculous and their confrontations had devolved into childish name-calling and petty comebacks that were completely outrageous. When the two had finally come to their senses after a month's worth of idiocy, they put aside their differences regarding Kid, apologized, and became a pair of unlikely friends. Sonoko was rather eccentric, but not on the same level as Lyle, Renee, and Saguru's mother. He could tell when she was playing up her oddness and when she was genuinely excited. Sonoko was also a perfect source for information on Kid activity whenever he was out of the country and he, in turn, would give her information on the latest Kid heists he was involved in.

"I was wondering when you were going to pay me a visit," Sonoko huffed as she led him into the lounge where they usually visited when he came over to call on her.

"Apologies, Sonoko-chan. It's been a rather hectic week for me," Saguru replied as he took a seat across from her in a plush chair. "I have, however, brought a gift for you."

Sonoko was easily appeased as she took the box he presented her and squealed in delight over the dress inside, as well as the selection of her favorite European chocolates. "You are forgiven," she declared imperiously as she set the box aside. "Is that dress from your mother's winter line?"

"Not even available in stores for the public yet," Saguru assured her. "My mother sends her regards and an invite to Beau Vous' winter fashion show in Shibuya at the end of the month. The invitation is inside the box as well, and allows you to have a plus one in case Kyougoku-san is present and wishes to accompany you."

"Thank you!" Sonoko's smile covered her whole face before her expression became more somber. "Unfortunately Makoto-san will be attending a tournament around that time in Kyoto. Maybe I'll bring Ran-chan. I think she'd like that."

"Ah, and how is Mouri-kun?" Saguru asked, listening politely as Sonoko went on a rant about how her friend was still waiting for Beika's local high school detective, Kudo Shinichi, to come back from a case he'd been involved in for quite some time. When she finally calmed down again they launched into their favorite topic of conversation – Kid – which only served to rile her back up again.

"It's too bad you had to miss my party," Sonoko lamented with an exaggerated air. "It was spectacular. Even without Kid-sama's presence it would have been a smash. But – oh! – you should have _seen_ what he did to the pumpkins. They were crawling all over the place. And skulls were flying out of the coffin at guests and the Task Force was a complete joke. Kid had them running in circles, chasing each other."

"And how did he accomplish that?" Saguru asked, amused. While Sonoko told him about the capes Kid had attached to the Task Force's backs, he watched her. She tended to not only gesture with her hands, but moved her whole body as well. It was a rather childish and endearing quality she had that few in their social circles could appreciate. Most found such enthusiasm either obnoxious or unbecoming for a woman of Sonoko's position as heir to the Suzuki Company. She had toned down such expressiveness significantly in public since Saguru had become her friend, but during these private moments she did nothing to curb her behavior.

It was nice to be in the company of someone who felt comfortable enough to let go of such inhibitions. In return it allowed him to relax as well. It was nearly a requirement sometimes. Sonoko could get really mad if he acted too properly, "like a stuffy brown-nosing jerk". Being gentlemanly was fine, but too much formality was a no-no in these private meetings. Sonoko's argument was that they acted on ceremony in too many public events on behalf of their parents and that as teenagers they should be allowed to relax in informal surroundings. Saguru hadn't wanted to argue with her over something stupid again and had learned to relax more in her presence. Having someone scowl and tell you to "get that stick out of your ass and relax" a million times would do that.

"So, did you see Kid before the heist started?"

Sonoko laughed. "I'm friends with a ton of Kid fans, Saguru-kun. There were a bunch of people dressed up in white suits. But, to answer your question, yes, I did see him."

Saguru's eyebrows shot up. "And that wasn't the first thing you mentioned when you answered the door, why?"

"I didn't want to be rude. I know how you feel about the Kid fandom."

Well. He couldn't really argue with that logic. "Was there anything unusual about him, that you noticed?"

She shrugged. "I thought he was the plus one for one of my guests. I just noticed that he was a Kid cosplayer. Nothing strange about him at all. Now, enough about my party," Sonoko said as she reseated herself, her gaze eager. "Details. What is my beloved Kid-sama up to now? A heist notice was issued and printed in the newspaper and I _know_ you've figured it out by now. Spill!"

Saguru chuckled and relaxed in his seat. "I suppose I don't mind telling you. The information will be released to the public anyway in tomorrow's morning paper. _The history of style in a tasteful fashion / An assortment of costumes collected with passion. / This kaitou twice wishes for something small / Because there's only one ring to rule them all_," Saguru recited. "The first two lines refer to the heist's location, The Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum in Shibuya, which has clothes from different time periods around the world. While the museum doesn't specifically have jewelry on display, they sometimes have special exhibits on other cultural artifacts, and some jewels will be on display." A fitting location for a heist, especially considering the theme of their challenges this round. "The second half of the heist notice was difficult for the task force to decipher."

"But not for you, I bet," Sonoko said smugly.

"Even I had a hard time determining the entirety of the notice," Saguru admitted. "The heist target was easy enough to determine."

"One ring to rule them all," Sonoko quoted with a smirk. "Even _I _know it's a Lord of the Rings reference. A jab, perhaps, at your Halloween costume?"

"And how would you know what I dressed as for Halloween?" Saguru huffed.

"I follow your fan page on Facebook, of course," Sonoko grinned. "You won't get one of your own, so I follow the fan page. There was a kick-ass video of the Hobbit skit, you know. Very nice. You looked so heroic banishing the beasts with your swords and shooting arrows all over the place. Now why can't you do that at one of my parties or at a Kid heist? You might actually stand a chance catching him if you whip out those kinds of moves."

"Because I'd be making a spectacle out of myself," Saguru frowned. "And those moves were practiced and choreographed. I can't do that sort of thing on the fly."

"Could too," Sonoko scoffed. "You're great at improv. You just don't want the attention it would give you."

"I have enough attention as it is," Saguru sighed. "Do you want to hear the rest of the heist information or not?"

"Spill," she demanded again, eyes sharp and eager.

"The ring reference was a clue to Kid's intended target, the Ichikawa's Sapphire, which is a rare pink sapphire that's set into a ring. It's going to be on a special display between tomorrow and the 12th." While the "ichi" kanji used in Ichikawa wasn't the same as the kanji used to represent "one", it was obviously a pun.

"And the heist date and time?" Sonoko inquired.

"That was the hard part to figure out," Saguru admitted. "The clue was hidden in the third line – _This kaitou twice wishes for something small._ It's not a common thing done here in Japan, but in some western cultures the time 11:11 is regarded as special for making a wish. So that gave us a time for the heist. The best we can figure, however, with regards to a date, is the part where the kaitou _twice_ wishes, which suggests that 11:11 has a double meaning as both time and the date. So to sum up, Kid is going to target the Ichikawa's Sapphire in the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum at 11:11 on November 11th."

Sonoko made a note of the time and date in her phone, looking extremely pleased.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

The planning for this heist had been kinda half-assed because he wanted to hold it soon, and as a result, it wasn't going to be his best magic. He'd been a little careless with hiding his tricks around the room where the Ichikawa's Sapphire was being held, and some of them had already been discovered. It wasn't even 11:11 yet. Also, he felt like his veins were flowing with molasses tonight. He just couldn't get excited about this.

Blah. Blergh. Heist. Hmm. Don't wanna.

_You can't find the meeting place unless you have the riddle,_ he reminded himself. That meant he had to put on a grand show and steal the "one ring" first. Eh… he didn't need to be flashy tonight. He'd been wild enough on Halloween to make up for a sub-par magic show if he wanted to get this heist over with. Normally he wouldn't condone such a mood, but he was feeling truly drained. He was always in the middle of planning heists and researching potential targets and gathering intel on the criminal network that was after Pandora. Heists were great fun and wonderful magic practice, but tonight he was thinking about his father. Well, he had started by thinking of the meetings with Hakuba, and then he'd remembered the question that the blonde had asked for his prize last time: _How many people have worn the Kid costume?_

The answer should have been just one, maybe two if Mom helped out sometimes. Dad should have still been here to find Pandora before the dark organization did. This quest had lost Kaito a father and widowed his mother. Jii had lost a good friend. The world had lost a good magician.

Again, heists were great fun, but the reason for the heists, the idea that there were villains out there willing to kill for eternal life, sometimes made it very hard to put on the suit. Most nights, Kaito was fine. The snipers didn't come to every heist, and Kaito always lost himself in the ecstasy of adrenaline and magic and more recently, the challenges. Tonight, though, it was hard. He'd been very, very tempted to cancel tonight. However, he was looking forward to the part of the evening where he got to watch Hakuba Saguru's reactions to the heist that the detective had so rudely missed.

Yeah… that _would_ make the night better, wouldn't it? Bothering the detective was always a trip.

Kaito gave himself a little slap to wake up a bit, then checked his watch. 11:05pm. Six more minutes until show time. He took a drink from the water fountain outside the restrooms and, when no one was looking, slipped into the ladies room to change into his next disguise. Tonight he was Kagome Rina, head of the Collections department for the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum. The real woman was brisk, organized, and terrifying enough that she'd apparently cowed Nakamori into silence the first time they met after the heist notice had been issued. The task force had been whispering about it when they set up and Kaito's own research on the woman made him inclined to believe them.

He left the bathroom, went back into the hallway, and circled around to the entrance of the room where the Ichikawa's Sapphire was being displayed. Kaito demanded to see Nakamori-keibu immediately and insisted that the officers stay in their positions, thank you, I don't need to be walked around my own workplace like a child.

Kaito took a moment to shiver as he entered one of the main display rooms, the one with the sapphire. Because the museum displayed clothes, there were an awful lot of mannequins on platforms behind knee-high barriers. To an untrained eye, it almost looked like the museum was full of human exhibits, like a zoo but for people. The clothes were beautiful, to be sure, but overall it was creepy as hell.

The magician made it four steps towards the display case when Hakuba frowned, moving away from his position by one of the displays, and reached out a hand to stop him. "Hold on a minute. We need to make sure you're not –"

The lights snapped off. Kaito had known better to utilize smoke, which might damage the fragile clothes on display, and went for a blackout instead. He tied Hakuba's hands together and fastened the detective to one of the short barriers. Kaito made a quick disguise change, stuck a Kid note to the front of the display case, and got into position. When the police got their floodlights working (only ten seconds, they were getting better), there was one more mildly eerie mannequin on the platforms, this one wearing a violet kimono with a lavender cherry blossom print. The makeup, which he'd kept on under the Kagome Rina mask, had taken a half hour to perfect, and the sheer number of pins that Kaito had put into the wig to keep the complex style intact made it incredibly heavy. As long as he didn't move a muscle, though, no one should notice that Kid was part of the scenery.

Nakamori found the note immediately. "'A fake looks brighter than the real thing, and I have taken the true One Ring.' THAT THIEF!" A pink jewel shone back at him from its setting, taunting him.

"It was only dark for a few seconds," one officer gasped.

Nakamori's face reddened in fury. "There are only two entrances! Unit One, you take one exit, we'll take the other! MOVE IT!" The officers scrambled into action, leaving behind a bound Hakuba and the presumably fake jewel. After everyone was gone, Kaito lowered his arms and released a breath. His classmate was still tied up and didn't look like he was going anywhere, so Kaito felt confident jumping down from the platform and strolling over to the display case. After disabling the alarm, he picked the lock at the base and opened it.

The power of suggestion was a wonderful thing. As soon as the officers had read the note saying that Kid had just switched the real one for a fake, they would have automatically looked at the jewel and thought that yes, it was a little brighter, wasn't it? The floodlights changed the angle of light on the sapphire, tricking their eyes.

"You've done that trick before," Hakuba drawled from behind Kaito. "The first time we met, actually. You let them think that you'd already stolen the Adam's Smile painting and you were planning to take your sweet time once they'd cleared out. It was a lame ruse then and it's lame now, Kid."

Kaito smiled to himself but didn't look back at Hakuba, plucking the ring from its stand. "That's what made the magic work. Nakamori wouldn't suspect that I, the great Kaitou Kid, would pull the same trick twice. If I'd had more time in the blackout, I would have had the sense to blindfold you and take the jewel in silence so I could use the illusion again." He'd borrow the camera tapes too and make himself invisible.

"I've no doubt you can move quietly, Kid, but you can't muffle _all_ sound coming from you."

Kaito laughed. "Wanna bet?"

In the reflection of the display case he saw Hakuba's eyes flicker in the direction of the closest surveillance camera. "I don't make bets with thieves."

"You're no fun. Say, in all the bustle of the evening, did you even get a chance to look at the ring?"

"Of course I studied it in preparation for the heist."

"Is that so?" So Hakuba _had_ arranged a note for him. Then where was it? Ah! There it was, tucked away behind the information plaque for the ring "Alright then, Tantei-san, have a _delightful_ evening of futile pursuit and paperwork." Kaito skedaddled before Hakuba could come up with a comeback and slipped on another mask. After a quick stop in the restroom of a small store to wipe off the makeup, Kaito put a different mask in place and wandered over to a cute little park. He sat down on a bench and withdrew Hakuba's riddle.

While Kaito may have been a bit slapdash tonight, Hakuba was in top form. The magician was almost late to the meeting point again. As he settled into his seat on the hotel rooftop, Kaito commented, "I believe we ought to nail down the rules a little more clearly."

Hakuba raised his eyebrow. "Oh really? Which rules would those be? How about the one where we _don't_ make obvious references to our… extracurricular activities… in places with recording devices?" Kaito winced at his pointed tone, remembering the detective's defensive response to Kid's casual offer to make a bet with him. "Does that sound like a fair plan?"

"It won't happen again."

"Thank you. Now what were the rules you had in mind?"

"It occurs to me that, while I have only the time until my heist to complete the challenge, you could potentially set the meeting for several days after the heist if you weren't finished with my challenge to you. It doesn't seem quite fair."

Hakuba tapped his chin thoughtfully. "However, you could plan heists for whenever you wanted."

"Heists are my business," Kaito replied, fake smile in full force as he tried not to snap too fiercely at the detective. "The location for my targets changes frequently. I _am_ constrained by certain factors." All of his frustration and sorrow rushed back in a moment, filling him to the brim.

Hakuba blinked in surprise at the unexpected heat in Kaito's voice. "I was just being facetious. How about we decide that, unless there are unavoidable outside factors, we meet directly after heists? I'll still tell you where and when via note." Kaito's anger instantly dissipated as he realized he wasn't being criticized. He wasn't really mad at the detective, anyway. It was the underground organization that had earned his ire.

"Sounds good. And I think that outside help could be allowed as long as our assistants are not privy to the exact details." Kaito knew that Hakuba had already implemented outside help, but it couldn't hurt to make it official in case Kaito needed to enlist someone for a future challenge.

"Agreed. Anything else?"

"If I think of any more stipulations we can discuss them later."

"Right." There was a noticeable silence after that. Hakuba looked slightly uncomfortable, and Kaito felt his own smile widen out of genuine amusement.

"I suppose it's time for us to exchange proof now, isn't it?"

Hakuba sighed, resigned. "You already know."

"Know what?" Kaitou Kid wasn't officially connected to Kuroba Kaito, so he wouldn't know that Hakuba's proof was in a Minato evidence locker. "I know that I recorded my heist, and it was lovely. Here." He withdrew the iPad that he'd borrowed from his mother (_with_ permission, geez!) and tapped in the password before turning it over to the detective. "Just as a side note, I think you'll find that I've wiped any prints from the screen. Press play and the video should start."

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_SAGURU_

Saguru rolled his eyes. "I did promise that I wouldn't try to deduce your identity at these meetings. I'm not about to fingerprint everything on the off chance you touched something without your gloves."

Kid merely shrugged and waved Saguru on. The video was already pulled up and once it started playing he set the iPad down on the table, angled so that Kid could see it as well.

"_Ready?_" Kid's grinning face asked in a mirror on the video. "_Good evening. As you can see I am in full costume. As per the parameters of our challenge, I am allowed to disguise myself until I reach twenty meters of the Mori Art Museum. I will leave the camera on and inform you when we – excuse me, I – reach that point. Sound good?_" Kid smiled brightly before leaving the restroom of a 7-Eleven convenience store. Saguru watched the encounter with the cat girl and her friends, amused, shaking his head at the pants comment and raising an eyebrow at the Chat Noir comment. Interesting that Kid would make that distinction. Saguru had a feeling the Kid knew who Chat Noir was. The expression "thick as thieves" came to mind.

Saguru sighed in frustration as the officers simply waved Kid in without much trouble. He'd expected that several guests would come to Sonoko's party as Kid – which the thief had probably been counting on – but for the officers to not have at least searched Kid was incredibly thoughtless. Anyone in Kid regalia should have been stopped and thoroughly examined. What on earth was Nakamori-keibu thinking? Honestly. Did Saguru have to point out such obvious security measures just so that they'd be carried out? Saguru had a good rant about it while the Kid on the video made his way up to the party with Harley Quinn, the Joker, and Captain Malcolm, Wash, and Zoe from Firefly (a rather entertaining show that had sadly been cancelled after only one season). The Kid sitting across from him at the table smirked, obviously enjoying his reactions.

Saguru watched the rest of the video with great amusement, a small part of him wishing he could have attended. Sonoko had spared no expense and many of the costumes looked very well done. Saguru laughed when Kid got invited to his own fan club, loving the irony. His reaction seemed to surprise Kid, but the thief smirked and chuckled along with him. Then the hostess herself appeared on screen and Saguru smiled fondly at her borderline sexy angel costume. The wings looked expertly made.

"_Suzuki-san_. _Good evening. I'm the 'plus one' for one of your guests, but my date seems to have wandered off. Would you care to join me for a dance?_"

Sonoko beamed. "_Of course! I'd love to!_"

"You couldn't resist, could you?" Saguru asked Kid, shaking his head. If Sonoko had known whom she was dancing with, she would have spazzed.

"_My name is Akiyama Asahi, by the way_," Kid said, introducing his alias. "_It's a pleasure to meet you, Suzuki-san._" Saguru raised an eyebrow at the name choice. The name "morning sun" combined with a heist target named the Sun-drop Topaz? If Saguru had been there, he would have had Kid arrested on the spot. "_Is swing dance alright?_"

"_Yeah, swing is fine, and it's nice to meet you too, Akiyama-san. Neat earring, by the way._" She nodded at the camera. Saguru leaned back in his seat with a sigh and covered his mouth in a thoughtful gesture, frowning.

Kid laughed on the video. "_I worked so hard to put together an authentic-looking Kaitou Kid cosplay, with the monocle, top hat, cape, and everything, and you like the earring?"_

It _was_ odd, Saguru thought. Sonoko had told him, "_I just noticed that he was a Kid cosplayer. Nothing strange about him at all_." She'd… lied. She _had_ noticed something: the earring. Why would she lie? It was possible that she could have forgotten that detail, but this was Suzuki Sonoko. She was obsessed with Kid. She would never have forgotten a single detail about any of her encounters with him. She would have remembered the earring. Why hadn't she told him about it? It wasn't like such a detail was relevant to the case this long after it had happened… unless she'd known that it was Kid and was covering for him…

Then it clicked.

The party. She had been in on the heist. Or at least in arranging things so that the police couldn't cordon off the museum and make it unavailable to the public. It was way too perfect and way too much of a coincidence that Sonoko would choose that museum to host that particular party. She was a Suzuki. She could have her pick of anywhere in the city, but she'd chosen a museum. A museum that just so happened to have a heist target.

Saguru watched the rest of the encounter with sharp eyes, taking everything in. Sonoko was flirty and yet way too comfortable in Kid's presence. She knew him. Damn it, Sonoko _knew_ Kid! And Kid knew her if the way he flirted back was any indication. Saguru huffed at the glider-wings comment. Now that was an inside joke if he'd ever heard one. The tone of voice was clear. Just how long had those two known each other?

He relaxed again more naturally when Kid and Sonoko stopped dancing together and watched the rest of the heist with little interest, already knowing what was going to happen when the pumpkins started scurrying about. Sonoko had gone into great detail about this part of the evening and was impressed with her attention to detail. Kid seemed disappointed by his lack of a reaction, though, so Saguru made sure to at least grumble about the abysmal job Nakamori and his officers had done with regards to securing the heist target. "That had to be one of your easiest heists to date. The police presence was pitiful. They had practically no protective measures and allowed themselves to be distracted by the animatronic pumpkins! I will have to make sure such a thing doesn't happen again in the future," Saguru huffed.

"I suppose you will," Kid grinned. "Now, for your challenge?" He took a sip from one of the cups that Saguru had brought up from the hotel room.

Saguru sighed, running a hand through his hair. For such an open and shut case, Saguru had been unable to get back the camera from the evidence locker even after his return from England. Apparently there was a huge backlog due to a number of high priority cases in Division One. Forensics and evidence lockers were congested and disorganized from all the chaos. "Sadly, I had my proof confiscated and have been unable to reclaim it as of yet," he admitted.

"Ah, pity," Kid replied, but his grin sharpened. "That will cost you."

Saguru nodded, eyebrow ticking in irritation. However, he wasn't going to give an excuse and plea extenuating circumstances. They'd agreed on the rules and he was going to follow them. It was only fair. He didn't have to like it, though, and dreaded what the thief was going to suggest.

"Before we get to that, however," Kid chirped happily, "I get my reward for completing my challenge." Saguru waved him on. "Have you ever gotten a case that you didn't want to solve?" he asked.

Saguru paused, gathering his thoughts. That was certainly an interesting question. Saguru had solved many cases over the years and had always been proud of his record, solving them all (aside from Kid's case of course), determined to find the perpetrator, and aside from that idiotic snafu during the Koushien where he'd gotten caught up in competition with Hattori, he was always right. But there had been one time he still wished he hadn't been.

"There was one," he admitted slowly, adjusting his posture in his seat. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, hands clasped together before his face. He stared at his fingers for a moment, eyes tracing the faint scar that he could barely see in the dim light that snagged from the first knuckle on his left pointer finger down to his wrist. Kid waited silently, eyes staring intently at him.

"I was in seventh grade," Saguru started. "It had been roughly ten months since I'd started doing my own private detective work and had solved a few high profile cases that got me in the newspapers again. I'd even consulted with the police a couple of times by then. I was quickly rising in popularity at school and felt as if I were on top of the world. But during January after winter break… accidents started happening around me. They were just small things at first; a tack on my chair, my locker ransacked, my things dumped out of my bag when I returned from gym class. But things quickly escalated. Each incident was more dangerous than the last; my hands got cut on shards of glass that had been slipped into the covers of my books, I nearly received a concussion from a faulty shower head, and gym equipment would collapse when I went to use it. I was nearly crushed by a stone statue that had been pushed off the school's roof. My mother wanted to pull me from the school, but the police and campus security assured her than they were doing everything they could to find the culprit. And they did. Or, rather, I did."

Saguru swallowed, looking out over the cityscape. "His name was Jackson Peters, and he… had been my best friend. We'd been in the same class since the third grade and did everything together. He was a child prodigy, particularly in maths. He was practically a human calculator. We traded off back and forth for top of our class and grade, but he always beat me in maths and I always beat him in science. We pushed each other and would do experiments. We believed that there wasn't anything we couldn't do together."

"So what happened?" Kid asked eventually when Saguru stopped and didn't speak for a while, too lost in memory.

"I don't know," Saguru replied softly, hands clenching. As he continued to speak his voice became louder and the words came faster, rushing out of him. "After I realized that it was Jackson, I confronted him. I couldn't understand why he of all people wanted me hurt. We were best friends and told each other everything. It didn't make any sense. It still doesn't. The evidence told me that he did it, but it had to be wrong. It couldn't have been him. He wouldn't do that, I told myself. Someone had to be framing him and I needed him to tell me that I was wrong for once. That he wouldn't do that. That someone else was trying to injure or kill me…" Saguru swallowed, unable to look at Kid. He really didn't want to relive this, especially in front of Kid, but the words wouldn't stop.

"But he was the one responsible. He confessed. Even told me how he rigged some of the faulty equipment. I asked him why and… he pulled out a knife. We fought and we must have made a ruckus because the police and campus security showed up. I begged Jack to stop. Told him he was only making things worse for himself. He told me I was right."

"_You're right,_ _like always, James_."

"He shoved me back and off of him. Then he turned the knife on himself."

"_NO!_ _Jack!"_

_"Wasn't…working…anyway."_

"The police searched his belongings," Saguru said softly, wiping away a tear that had slipped past his guard. "No one knows why he did any of it. He left no clues, no indication why he tried to kill me. Why he would want to. That's why I'm always asking. I need to understand why people hurt others. I don't ask it just for kicks, to dot I's, cross T's, and put a cherry on top. I ask because I need to know why people do what they do."

Saguru finally looked up and faced Kid, asking for his motive without really asking. Kid stayed silent, but Saguru hadn't expected him to answer. "Alright," the detective said with a cough, fighting to regain his composure. "That aside, what should we do for our next challenge?"

Kid stared at him quietly a second longer before moving on to the next topic, allowing the subject to move aside and resume their meeting as normal.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

_KAITO_

That was definitely not where Kaito had thought that question was going to go. He'd expected an embarrassing story about a silly case or one where the culprit was a pretty girl that Hakuba hadn't wanted to see convicted. Not…this. There was so much raw emotion coming from the usually emotionless detective, and it suddenly occurred to Kaito to question how Hakuba had gotten so closed off. This Jackson Peters had done more than threaten Hakuba's life; he'd ripped something intangible from the blonde, and Kaito wondered if the detective had ever gotten it back.

Hakuba didn't know why Jackson had done it, but Kaito could come up with a couple ideas. The petty pranks at the beginning may very well have been the result of envy. Hakuba had been gaining recognition as a detective and was being praised for his clever wit. From what the blonde had said, it didn't sound like Jackson had found a similar calling with regards to his own genius. So Jackson was left alone while his friend and fellow nerd became popular. _Very_ popular. Kaito also guessed that, compared to a boy who could run across half of London to chase down a purse thief, Jackson probably hadn't been as strong or athletic as Hakuba. Body image wasn't just a pressure put on girls – there were expectations that boys wouldn't be scrawny or effeminate. There may have been other pressures from home that Hakuba was unaware of.

Any of those could explain why Jackson had lashed out at Hakuba. His final act, though… Kaito didn't have to be a math genius to run the statistics about the chances of Jackson escaping trouble when the police and campus security showed up, combined with the knowledge that Jackson was up against Hakuba, who was a decent fighter. As Hakuba's best friend, Jackson would know the depth with which Hakuba craved answers for everything in his life and would understand that Hakuba abhorred murder in all of its forms. Suicide included. Short of killing the detective himself, committing suicide with no explanation was the worst thing that Jackson could have ever done to Hakuba.

Though he wasn't ready to let this drop permanently, Kaito knew that digging in now would only hurt Hakuba further. Kaitou were a subtle breed, and he'd work it out of the detective a little at a time. He pasted on a smile he didn't feel. "Yes, challenges, those should come next on the agenda, shouldn't they? I don't know whether you've prepared a dare for me, but I do believe that, in light of your –" using the term "failure" right now would be cruel "– temporary setback, your challenge should be especially difficult."

"I'm at your mercy," Hakuba replied, a sarcastic expression crossing his face. Kaito laughed and the tension broke.

"I'm still plotting your punishment for misplacing the proof. Do you have a challenge for me?"

"I do." Hakuba sat back and nibbled at a biscuit. "I reckon, given that you schedule your thefts with some regularity and given your earlier mention of multiple targets that change locations, that you have a list somewhere of items to steal. For your next heist, I dare you to pick two pieces of artwork from your list and take them both around the same time."

Kaito gasped dramatically, hand clutching his heart. "Tantei-san! Are you _encouraging_ me to steal things? Should I be worried?"

"If they're on your list, you're going to steal them anyway. I'd just like to see how you would get from one site to the other in a short period of time."

"How short are we talking here? Within an hour?"

"That sounds reasonable, _if_ your choices are in different buildings."

Kaito smiled. "What, you thought I was going to take the easy route and steal two from the same museum?" The thought had crossed his mind.

"I don't pretend to understand your thought processes, Kid. However, you did take the simplest course for the Sun-drop Topaz. Any other night and the no-disguise restriction would have been much more difficult."

"That's not being lazy, that's being clever. What's my limit if I do decide to pick two from the same building, hmm?"

"Ten minutes, and even that's pushing it."

"I accept your challenge. You didn't ask, but given that I have confidence in my abilities, I will add that I will go without my assistant for this operation. I will personally take both items."

"Careful, Kid. Self-confidence is important, but no one likes arrogance."

Kid laughed. "Who was the one who came to Japan saying that it would be a cinch to catch up with the infamous Kaitou Kid?"

Hakuba raised an eyebrow. "If you haven't noticed, I've gotten the closest out of anyone." He gestured to the table between them and managed to encompass their whole situation.

Kaito hummed noncommittally in response, because Hakuba did have a bit of a point there. "The idea I had for your challenge will have to be postponed in light of your aforementioned setback. Instead… what do you think about a scavenger hunt?"

"A scavenger hunt," Hakuba echoed, looking suspicious. "It would have to be all legal. I'm not trespassing or breaking and entering to find anything."

"Oh, I think I can contain myself to legal objects for this," Kaito replied. "It'll take some time to plan, so you're off the hook for a while. The first clue and instructions will be relayed the same way you alerted me to your absence for Halloween. The rest of the clues, of course, will be dependent on you finding the items in order."

"How many objects am I looking for, exactly?"

Kid's shark grin made an appearance. "If you don't like the thought of a scavenger hunt, I have some other ideas."

"No, no, that's fine," Hakuba responded, no doubt backing up because of the mischievous look on Kaito's face. "I was simply curious."

"I don't have an answer for you, since I haven't made it up yet. The challenge I was planning to give you… well, I'll leave it a surprise for next time. I couldn't have known that your disguise challenge would go uncompleted."

"Please, like you don't keep the people on your task force under surveillance. Are we finished here?" Hakuba rolled his eyes.

Kaito sobered. "Not quite." He slowly reached forward and took Hakuba's wrist in his hand. "I am really, truly sorry," he said, rubbing his thumb in circles gently along the veins on the inside. Kaito maintained unblinking eye contact with a suddenly frozen Hakuba. "I had no idea about your friend. Next time, if I ask something that invasive… you can say no. Not answer me. These evenings are about fun and a little humiliation, not reopening scars." Kaito had watched his father die at age eight and he still remembered it with perfect clarity. There was no question that Hakuba could still close his eyes and see his middle school friend at the moment that life left him.

"I'll keep that in mind." Hakuba's voice was soft.

"Good. And one more thing." Kaito suddenly smiled, removing his hand from Hakuba and producing the Ichikawa's Sapphire with a snap of his fingers. "Would you mind terribly if I asked you to return this for me? Say that you found it in your favorite teacup. Given that I've returned jewels to Nakamori-keibu's house and left them in the desks of task force officers, I don't doubt that they'll believe you."

Hakuba snorted but made no move to take it. "Your fans would kill me if I accepted a ring from you."

Kaito let out a few chuckles that quickly turned into full-out laughter. He caught the detective smiling a bit too at the ludicrous notion of Kid proposing to him. "Alright then, Tantei-san, I'll return the gem another way." Hakuba would be in for a surprise tomorrow when he poured out the last of the Frosted Flakes. "I'll see you soon."

"Goodnight, Kid."

"Goodnight to you as well."

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

SR: Well that ended on a down note, didn't it? Both boys got a bit depressed thinking about their pasts in the end. :P How the hell did that happen? Ah well. I'm sure things will bounce back next chapter. I had a lot of fun writing Saguru's interactions with both Akako and Sonoko this go-round. They are a lot of fun to write. And on top of that Saguru and Kid appear to be making progress in opening up and becoming more comfortable around each other. Even with all the depressing talk during this chapter, I love how these meetings go. Their interactions are just so fun!

MG: Indeed, but even in the sad moments, Kaito tried to keep some humor going (And geez, Kaito, it's too early to be giving Saguru a ring, you goof). And I agree that next chapter, things should be light again. I have absolutely no idea how we're going to write Kaito stealing two jewels at once, but I'm sure it will be an adventure. And SR and I have a vague idea of what Saguru is going to be searching for, but that's still up in the air too!

SR: Even though it's the boys challenging each other, I think in reality we're the ones challenging ourselves to come up with these scenarios. Well we haven't failed yet! Can't wait for this next set of challenges, MG!

MG: Me neither! I'm looking forward to it, as always. Thanks for reading, everyone, and please leave a review! We appreciate every bit of feedback :D


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